Nothing I Fear
by Er-BearG32
Summary: AU Season 2. After the accident in "Devil's Trap", things take a turn for the worse when Sam is left not only brain-damaged, but paralyzed and Dean has to find a way to protect his brother from the last person he ever expected: Their father, John. Hurt/Brain-damaged/Paralyzed Sam, Hurt/Protective/Furious/Big-brother Dean, Evil!John
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- **Hey everyone, I'm back! Just a quick note before getting into this that this is an AU for the ending of season 1/beginning of season 2, that's why I've changed things in flashbacks and some major details that occurred in the show will not happen here, so please take notice of that before reading! I've done that for a reason…reasons which you'll find out soon enough. *wicked, evil grin* Also, this is my first time writing John Winchester (and I'm not going to be making him a good person), so my apologies in advance if he appears OOC.

**A/N2- **Also, I'm not a doctor or nurse, so any errors in medical facts are all on me!

**Summary: **AU Season 2. After the accident in "Devil's Trap", things take a turn for the worse when Sam is left not only brain-damaged, but paralyzed and Dean has to find a way to protect his brother from the last person he ever expected: Their father, John. Hurt/Brain-damaged/Paralyzed Sam, Hurt/Protective/Furious/Big-brother Dean, Evil!John

**Nothing I Fear**

_Written by: Erin_

**Chapter 1**

"Dean, stop pacing for just a few minutes and have a seat, alright?"

Dean stopped in his tracks, but only briefly, and turned hard eyes towards his father, who was now glaring daggers at him. Under normal circumstances, he would have abided by the orders; hell, he would have just mumbled a simple "Yes, sir", acting once again like the good little soldier his father had raised him to be.

But not now. Hell, no.

Not now when his baby brother was just beyond those large double doors, fighting for his very life right now.

And he was unable to be with him.

Sam. Sammy.

Sam was all alone in there, most likely unconscious, while countless doctors and nurses worked around the clock to repair what Dean himself couldn't.

"Dean! I said have a seat!" John barked, rising to his unsteady feet and ignoring the flair in his shoulder as he walked over to his oldest, who was now glaring right back at him,

"Dean-"

"No." Dean snapped right back, pulling away before his father could even touch him,

"Don't tell me take a seat, dad. You have any idea how long we've been waiting out here?"

Growing more and more irritated with his oldest son's attitude, especially when it was directed his way, John narrowed his eyes,

"Don't take that tone with me, boy-" He was cut off as Dean's glare hardened and he backed further away from him.

"Why not? Because you want me to be your good little soldier again? Because you want me to just accept whatever those doctors have to tell us when we get the news on Sammy?" The older son shook his head, feeling the start of a few tears beginning to well in his eyes but he pushed them back. There was no way on God's green earth that he would allow himself to cry in front of his father,

"Sam's life is on the line here, dad, and you're worrying about me following your orders. Sorry, dad, but Sammy's more important." Finally seeing that John had snapped his mouth shut, but shot him one last disgusted look, Dean turned and was about to walk down the hall when his father spoke up again.

"Your brother was the one driving the car, Dean. He's going to have to take responsibility for whatever happens from here on out, you know that, right?"

Feeling his back go rigid and his temper reaching a new peek, Dean turned around slowly and growled,

"That's your son you're talking about, dad. My brother. And in case you forgot, the reason we were even in the fuckin' car to begin with was because he saved your ass."

"Dean," John sighed in exasperation, knowing full well he wasn't going to be getting through to his oldest this way. Forcing himself to appear apologetic for Dean's sake, for him to not walk away, John continued quietly,

"Dean, I know that…"

"Do you?" Dean arched an eyebrow, watching his father's face for any signs that he wasn't telling him the truth,

"Do you know that, dad?"

"I know he saved my ass back there," John forced back the amount of disgust at the words he was speaking. He knew he was lying through his teeth, but he was bound and determined to do it, although he was feeling anything but. Yellow Eyes would have been long dead by now; his Mary would have been avenged…if only Sam had followed his direct orders to kill him and he had disobeyed,

"Just sit down for a minute with me, Dean, okay?"

Tense silence filled the air between father and son, the only sounds Dean could hear was the soft squeak of nurse's shoes and the typing of computer keys at the nurse's station. Finally, as he took in the sincere look in his father's eyes and let his green eyes travel down to John's right arm which was set in a cast and secured to his chest in a sling, as well as the cuts and bruises decorating his face, Dean sighed and walked back over to the chair beside his father. Wincing at the slight pain in his ribs and his own shoulder which had been dislocated, Dean rubbed at the bandage wrapped around his head and slumped down in the chair.

"Your brother's a tough one, Dean; he'll be fine."

Ignoring John's words, the younger Winchester turned his head away, unable to look his father in the eye as he recalled the night before…really, just a little over 5 hours ago. Closing his eyes, Dean allowed a lone tear to roll down his cheek as he continued to look away from John Winchester.

He knew that Sammy was John's son as well, but if he was being completely honest with himself, John had not been the father that his brother had deserved. If anything, it was Dean who had cared for, had raised the kid, since he was 6 months old. It was Dean who protected and took care of him and refused to let anything happen to him.

Then this happened.

This shitty accident happened.

And if it was anyone's fault, it was Dean's. If only he had figured out his father had been possessed by Yellow Eyes soon enough, if only he had rescued his father sooner…then they wouldn't have been in the Impala at the time the large semi had hit them. More importantly, the semi wouldn't have hit on Sam's side…

"Sammy…" He mumbled quietly to himself, making sure to keep his voice low so John couldn't hear him,

"God, Sammy…"

0000

_5 hours earlier…_

"_Why the hell didn't you kill it, Sam?" John snapped from where he sat in the passenger seat of the Impala, glaring heatedly at his youngest son,_

"_We had an agreement here, the three of us. Killing this demon comes first, before me, before anything! Why didn't you do that, Sam, huh? Answer me, goddamn it-"_

"_Cut it out, dad," Dean interrupted from the back seat of his beloved car, holding his tender ribs and wincing as he shifted slightly,_

"_I told him not to do it-"_

"_You stay out of this, Dean; this is between me and your brother."_

"_No, actually, it's between all three of us," Dean barked in return, ignoring the jarring of his ribs and the pounding in his temple. Damnit, it hurt though. Getting thrown up against a wall by your possessed father and hitting your head on the hard floor was really not how the older Winchester brother had planned his evening,_

"_So just calm down for a moment," He continued, turning from where he was staring at the back of John's hard to meeting Sam's eyes in the rearview mirror,_

"_You did the right thing there, Sammy-"_

"_The hell he did the right thing!" John interrupted,_

"_I gave you a direct order, Sam! Why didn't you follow through with it? That son of a bitch was right in front of you and it could have been over and done with-"_

"_Why do you think I didn't do it, dad?" Sam interrupted, but never raised his voice as he turned away from Dean's gaze to stare at the dark, empty road before him,_

"_It was possessing you-"_

"_So what?" John scowled angrily as he rubbed the shotgun wound in his lower leg where Sam had shot him with the Colt…when it should have been his heart,_

"_That son of a bitch killed your mother, Sammy. Don't you remember? Or are you just too stubborn and selfish to see that-"_

"_Dad!" Dean interrupted again, his anger starting to rise at his father's words,_

"_I told him to do it!"_

"_I know that, Dean; you don't need to tell me twice," John scowled over his shoulder at his oldest son,_

"_That doesn't excuse this though." Here, he turned back to Sam,_

"_I just want to know what was going through your mind, Sammy, alright?" John attempted to lower his voice, to get his anger under control. The last thing he needed right now, as they drove to the nearest motel, was to get into a nose-to-nose confrontation with Dean over Sam's actions. After all, those never ended well on his part,_

"_Sammy?"_

"_I couldn't kill you, dad," Sam whispered, lifting his eyes and meeting Dean's concerned gaze again,_

"_You said killing that demon comes before anything…before anyone. You're wrong."_

"_Pardon me?"_

"_You're wrong," Sam repeated,_

"_It doesn't come before anything, before anyone. It never has-"_

"_The hell are you talking about, son?"_

_Sam was silent as he meet his big brother's eyes once again in the rearview mirror. How in the world was he supposed to explain to his stubborn son of a bitch father that he and Dean meant more to him then killing some Yellow-Eyed demon? Yes, they had been hunting it for over 20 years. Yes, it had killed their mother and even Jessica. Yes, he was more then willing to run back into that burning house just a few days ago to take it out himself, thus risking his own life._

_But that was then._

_That was before their father had been abducted by Meg. That was before their father-their only parental figure left-got possessed by the same Yellow-Eyed demon they had been hunting for. That was before Dean had shouted at him from where he was on the ground to not shoot their father…and Sam had listened to him._

"_You heard me, dad," Sam sighed tiredly, lifting a hand and rubbing his eyes, flinching at the pain that was still there from when he had gotten beaten to a bloody pulp earlier that afternoon by some demon,_

"_I won't put killing that demon before you and Dean; I won't do it-"_

"_You will do it, son; that's a direct order!"_

"_And I won't follow it," Sam lowered his hand back to the steering wheel, not turning to meet his father's harsh gaze. The last thing he wanted right now was to see the anger there, the anger directed at him,_

"_Why can't you see that, dad? Besides…" He let out a long breath,_

"_We've still got the Colt. We've still got the one bullet left-" His words were suddenly cut off when a bright, white light coming from his left took him by surprise and the next thing Sam felt was his side of the car being hit straight head on by a large semi truck. Sam's head hit the steering wheel as the impact came quickly and without warning and just as he felt a sharp, searing pain flow through him, through every fiber of his being, his entire world went black._

_It didn't take long for Dean to swim back to consciousness, his head pounding harder then it had earlier. Groaning and lifting a hand to touch his forehead, he cringed as he felt the stickiness of blood flowing freely down his face. His head still leaning against the back seat, the older Winchester brother attempted to move his limbs and bit back a sharp cry as pain flowed through his shoulder and his ribs hurt even more then before,_

"_Sammy…" He groaned, attempting to open his green eyes,_

"_Sam…?"_

_Nothing._

"_Dad?" He breathed a slight sigh of relief as he heard a soft moan coming from the passenger seat,_

"_Sammy?"_

_Dean's heart raced frantically as he opened his eyes all the way, taking in his baby brother's slouched figure in the driver's seat. Sam's unconscious, bloody slouched figure,_

"_Sammy!" He cried into the night, not even paying any attention as the driver of the semi stumbled out of the car and made his way towards the wrecked Impala._

_He paid no attention as the demon possessing the poor man was threatened with the Colt now being held in John's left hand._

_He paid no attention as the demon finally left the man's body and collapsed to the ground._

_His attention was directly on his injured brother,_

"_Sammy, please…" He groaned in agony, not listening to what his father was telling him,_

"_Dad…help him…"_

0000

"God, Sammy, I'm so fuckin' sorry…" Dean mumbled to himself with a shake of his head before lowering it into his hands,

"I'm so sorry, little brother…"

John Winchester spared a quick glance over at his oldest, listening to the quiet words that were escaping him. He just didn't understand; Dean was the one trying to apologize to his little brother…it really should be Sam apologizing to John. His youngest was the one who had screwed up, his youngest was the one who went strictly against his father's orders and now everything was falling to pieces around them.

Not that he would ever tell Dean that, of course…especially if his son needed to trust him-

"Is there a family of Samuel Winchester here?"

A gentle, yet firm, female voice sounded from the other side of the small family waiting room and just as Sam's name was announced, Dean rose somewhat shakily to his feet and rushed forward before his dad could even stand,

"That's my little brother, doc. Tell me how he's doing." The tone in the older brother's voice left no room for argument.

"Are you someone by the name of Dean?" She glanced down at her notes briefly in her patient's chart, checking to make sure she had the name correct, and glanced back up, watching as the green eyes of the beat-up young man in front of her widened and then took on a look of complete and utter love.

"That's me. I'm his brother. Is he awake?" Dean frantically started, feeling his heart racing in time to the pounding in his head. There would only be one reason why he was being called for by his name right now: Sam would have called for him…which meant that his brother was awake! His brother remembered him…right?

"I'm Doctor Morgan, I'm overseeing Samuel's care," Glancing to the older man with the beard who had silently and slowly made his way to Dean's side, whose gaze didn't hold as much concern and love as the younger man's, the doctor cleared her throat and met John's eyes,

"Are you his father?"

"Yes, Sam is my son." John replied, shooting a glance at his oldest, who was now ignoring him.

"Tell me how Sam is, doc," Dean interjected, taking a step closer, his concern and desperation growing with every passing second that he wasn't told about his little brother's condition.

"We're just in the process of moving Sam into his room when he woke up and started calling out to you, Dean," The doctor's voice grew soft with compassion as she looked the older brother straight in the eye,

"I'll take you to him in just a few minutes-"

"What? Why a few minutes?" Dean demanded, his voice rising. He didn't have a few minutes! Sammy was calling for him! His brother needed him-

"Because you need to understand the severity of your brother…your son's…" Here, she looked back over at John, frowning at the seemingly lack of concern and care in Sam's father's eyes,

"…condition." She finished with a soft sigh and folded her arms, tucking Sam's chart to her chest,

"If you would follow me, I think it would be better if I told you this somewhere more privately-"

"Doc, no offense, but my little brother needs me right now and I don't need anymore time wasted telling whatever is you need to tell us about his condition, especially if you want to tell us 'privately'," Dean interrupted, feeling his face grow red with anger. They were wasting too much time here,

"Just tell me so that I can be with him!"

Sighing softly, Doctor Morgan took a seat in one of the not-so-comfortable hospital waiting room chairs and silently gestured for Dean and John to do the same. Once they were seated in front of her, she continued,

"I'll be frank with you both. Sam's condition is pretty serious and you need to be prepared for what you'll find when you go into his room." She closed her eyes as sadness filled her heart. This was not what she ever wanted to tell the families of her patients, but she couldn't lie either and get their hopes up,

"First, you should know that your son…your brother…is a fighter; he's strong. We're lucky we didn't lose him…but you must know first and foremost, the wreck did some serious damage to Sam's body. Once Sam woke up, we were able to determine that our suspicions were true."

"What the hell are you talking about, doctor?" John growled, his eyes narrowing at the pretty brunette sitting in front of them.

"Sam is paralyzed."

0000

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Paralyzed? What the hell do you mean…?" Dean found that he was unable to continue his question when he rose quickly to his feet and he felt himself growing dizzy just by that one simple action. Paralyzed. Sammy?

"Are you alright, son?" Doctor Morgan reached an immediate hand out and grabbed a hold of Dean's arm as she saw the dazed look in his green eyes and she almost feared she would have to call in her nurses and staff once again to help this young man. But to her relief, she waited until the dazed look left his face and he brushed her hand away,

"Dean?"

"What do you mean by paralyzed?" Dean demanded again, not bothering to even look over at his father as he sat back down. He didn't even want to see John's reaction to this.

With a light sigh, Doctor Morgan flipped through Sam's chart before closing it and looking in between Dean and John, her patient's father carrying a look she couldn't make out. But she brushed that aside for the time being as she met the younger Winchester's eyes,

"I'm terribly sorry, but when the semi truck hit him, his spinal cord snapped, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. He can't feel or move anything-"

"Then you'll fix him."

"Dean." John finally spoke up, shooting him a stern look.

"You'll fix him," Dean firmly continued as if John had not spoken,

"Or I'll fix him. This won't be permanent, this is Sammy we're talking about here! Physical therapy-"

"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but it's almost 100% certain that it is permanent, Dean," Doctor Morgan gently interrupted, knowing this conversation was not going to end well when she continued her explanation of Sam's injuries,

"I'm afraid there's more-"

"More?" John interrupted, his gut churning at this doctor's words. Wasn't paralyzed enough? And paralyzed permanently? Sam would never walk again! He would never HUNT again! He huffed loudly,

"Isn't this enough, doctor?"

Ignoring the tone in John Winchester's voice, as she knew he was just acting that way due to his concern for his son-after all, it had to be that way, there wasn't any other explanation-Doctor Morgan went on,

"There also might have been some serious brain damage during the crash, Mr. Winchester." Here she directed her words primarily to John,

"We're uncertain to just what extent that will be until he wakes up fully, but there is a possibility he won't remember certain things. Whether that will be his life, certain people or even his family, that's yet to be determined."

"But there's also a possibility he's perfectly fine, right?" John asked with a raised eyebrow, swallowing his anger as he tried to not let it leak into his voice,

"Even just a small possibility?"

"Of course," Doctor Morgan gently assured,

"There's always that, but I highly doubt it." She sighed quietly,

"He's also sustained minor injuries from the crash, ones which have been tended to already. A broken left wrist, minor cuts and bruises on his face and hands. But what we're most concerned about of course, is his head and the paralysis."

"What-" Dean was suddenly cut off when a loud, familiar scream erupted from the other side of the hospital ward and he was on his feet as soon as he heard his name.

"DEAN!"

Doctor Morgan was on her feet within a matter of seconds and was soon holding out a hand to prevent Dean from following her,

"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay here for a few minutes-"

"The hell I will!" Dean snapped, brushing her hand away again,

"He's calling for me!"

"Dean, let her do her job!" John snapped, grabbing Dean's upper arm, which was soon shaken off. He reached forward and grabbed it again, only tighter this time,

"That's an order, son!"

"And I'm not following it!" Dean cried, feeling a few more tears starting to form in his green eyes,

"That's my baby brother-"

"We'll come and get you in a few minutes, Mr. Winchester," Doctor Morgan's gentle tone was now slightly impatient as she turned away and started rushing down the hall to where the scream had stopped and in its place, Dean was just barely able to make out crying.

Ignoring his father shaking his head in irritation, Dean turned away from the cries that were still calling for him and felt his heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

0000

The minutes felt like hours and the every time a second passed where Doctor Morgan had yet to come and get them, Dean felt himself growing more and more wrecked. The heartbreaking cries soon calmed down and the next thing the Winchesters knew, all that was heard again was the clicking of computer keys at the nurses station.

Waiting. Again.

That was the last thing Dean needed!

Unable to take anymore, and growing more and more annoyed that John had picked up a magazine and was flipping through it as if they had not just received critical news on his youngest son, Dean rose to his feet again and ignored the pounding in his skull as he made his way over to the pretty blond who was behind the desk at the nurses station. Normally, this would have been the perfect opportunity to turn his flirt on, to try and get a date, but not this time,

"Excuse me, but when will they let me see my brother?"

Eyebrows arching up to her forehead, the blond looked up from her computer and met Dean's eyes,

"I'm sorry, but what's his name?"

"Sam Winchester." Dean impatiently drummed his fingers on the counter, his green eyes flashing with annoyance,

"When will they let me see him? He needs me-"

Just as the blond was about to open her mouth to say something, the familiar voice of Doctor Morgan sounded from behind him and Dean sucked in a sharp breath as he turned to face her,

"Mr. Winchester, if you could follow me, please?" She nodded at him and then turned to meet John's eyes as he too rose to his feet,

"I'm going to take you to see Sam now."

The only thing Dean heard come out of the doctor's mouth was his brother's name and, without even bothering to check to see if his father was following, Dean turned and followed Doctor Morgan down the long hallway until they reached the end where a single room was, the door closed. Her hand on the doorknob, Doctor Morgan turned towards the Winchesters and met each of their eyes in turn,

"He should be sleeping right now-"

"Just open the damn door, lady, and let me be with my brother," Dean growled, not even bothering to remain calm and call, much less polite,

"You kept me from him when he was calling from me, the least you can do is get out of the way."

Knowing this young man would more then likely physically remove her if need be, as the look on his face took on one of a mother bear, Doctor Morgan opened the door and stepped out of the way to let them through,

"If you need anything-"

"We won't," Dean interrupted as he and John entered, closing the door in the doctor's face.

"You didn't need to be rude to that doctor, Dean," John grumbled, once again pushing his anger aside as he took a seat in the chair on the other side of the room, flipping open his magazine again with his good hand,

"She was just doing her job…"

"What the hell, dad?" Dean mumbled to himself with a shake of his head as he turned to the figure lying still in the hospital bed. His eyes softened and the tears began as he took a seat in the empty chair next to Sam and scooted it as close as possible,

"God, Sammy…"

If Dean didn't already know the things he did from the doctor's words, Dean would have assumed his brother had just had a run in with an avenging ghost and was paying the price for it, what with the clean white cast on left arm that was lying on his chest and the cuts and bruises decorating his still face. Monitors beeped around Sam's head, which was covered with a large white bandage, as he slept on and an IV was inserted into his right hand to give him the fluids he so desperately needed. Being as careful as possible, what with the IV and all, Dean gently took a hold of his baby brother's hand and rubbed his fingers with his own,

"You'll be fine, Sammy, I promise, little brother. Those doctors and nurses don't know you, you're gonna be just fine…"

Sighing from across the room as he looked up from the magazine he was reading, John Winchester shook his head in disgust as he went over everything that blasted doctor had told them regarding Sam. Paralyzed…Brain-damaged…What the hell was their world coming to? All of this never would have happened if Sammy had just shot and killed him the previous night; all of this would have been over and done with. Sure, he would have been dead, but it would have been worth it. Yellow Eyes would have been vanquished forever, his boys would have been safe and Mary would have been avenged. Now, here they were, stuck in some shitty hospital, the Impala practically totaled and Sam so severely injured, he might never walk again, much less hunt again.

_Damnit, Sam, _He silently curses his youngest as he turned back to his magazine, ignoring the silent looks Dean was shooting his way every now and then,

_If you had only listened to me, we would never be in this position. Now, we're stuck taking care of your sorry ass all because you refused to follow orders once again. Selfish bastard…Something's gonna have to be done; Dean and I are gonna have to continue the hunt, one way or the other. _

Plastering a forced smile of encouragement on his face, John looked up and finally met his oldest son's eyes and nodded over at him,

"He'll wake up, son."

"Why the hell are you sitting over there, dad?" Dean growled in reply, lowering his eyes back to his brother, who had yet to move. His hand tightened on Sam's right hand, while he moved his other to brush dark strands of bangs out of his brother's sealed eyes.

"I'm sure he's gonna want to see you when he awakens, Dean," John answered, finally setting the magazine down on the nearby table and rising to his feet with a slight groan,

"I'm going to go and get a cup of coffee. You want anything?" When Dean shook his head silently, his eyes staring harshly back at his father, John smiled and patted his son's shoulder as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Finally allowing his tears to flow more freely down his face, Dean shook his head in disgust as he rubbed Sam's arm gently,

"He's just worried, that's all, Sam. You know how dad is, he's not the type to get all emotional or show how worried sick he is. But he still cares, I know he does; he just doesn't know how to show it yet…It's just gonna take a while for this to sink in is all, Sammy-" His words were suddenly cut off when he felt slight movement coming from the bed; more importantly, he felt the movement coming from the very hand he was holding and before he could say anything, a slight moan was heard in Sam's bed,

"Sammy?"

Sam's eyelids felt like something was holding them down and the longer he tried to pry them open, the more determined he got. Stubbornness was starting to win out when he heard the all-too-familiar voice sounding in his right ear and the gentle hand rubbing his. He tried to open his eyes again when felt that same hand running through his hair and with one final try, he managed to pry his hazel eyes open and a bright white light greeted him.

"Sammy?"

Groaning quietly, the younger Winchester silently turned his head, but winced when he felt sharp needle-like pains slicing through his skull. Feeling a few tears well up in his eyes from the intensity of the pain, Sam closed his eyes once again, but that same voice sounded in his ear.

"It's okay, Sammy; you're okay."

Pain still slicing through his skull with an intensity he hadn't felt in…who knew how long…Sam forced his large eyes open again, only this time instead of seeing the bright light, he was greeted by the face that belonged to that voice. Only this time, he was now sitting right beside him on the bed that he was lying in, one hand still holding his and the other running a damp washcloth down his face.

"Can you hear me, Sam?"

Blinking his eyes rapidly as he took in that face, that face he knew the name of…Sam silently nodded his head in reply.

"Can you say my name for me?"

The youngest Winchester gulped, his throat parched with thirst, and licked his lips before opening his mouth and attempting to get any type of words out. He closed his eyes tightly as the face and name soon came together; the name that he had never once forgotten, not as long as he lived,

"D…Dean…"

Gently rubbing his baby brother's good hand in his, Dean nodded through the tears he was unable to keep at bay and smiled,

"Good job, kiddo. Now what's your name?"

"Sammy." Came the immediate answer.

Arching an eyebrow at the answer, Dean frowned and replied,

"Do you know where you are, little brother?"

"N-No…" Came the quiet answer,

"Dean…"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"What…" He closed in hazel eyes in agony as his brain tried to form the words he wanted to ask,

"What…day is it…? Where's…dad…?"

"You're in a hospital, Sammy," Dean replied as gently as he could,

"You've been seriously hurt, alright?" As Sam nodded in reply, the older brother went on,

"And dad will be right back, okay?"

"Why?"

"Why what, Sam?"

"Why…am I here…?" Came the too quiet question,

"Motel…?"

"No motel this time, little brother, okay?" Dean sighed softly, his own heard starting to pound once again from the stitches he had received,

"Your condition is too serious."

Glancing down at his left arm which lying still on his chest, and frowning at the cast that covered his hand to elbow, Sam swallowed and looked down at the sheets covering the lower half of him,

"I can't…"

"What, little brother?" Dean gently urged, his eyes following his brother's eye movement.

"I can't…feel my legs…" Sam whispered, closing his eyes tiredly as he let out a heavy sigh,

"D-Dean…? What…day is it…?"

"I'll answer more of those questions later after you get some more rest, Sammy, okay?" Dean gently placed his hand on his brother's chest and carefully pushed him back against the pillows when he attempted to sit up,

"Just get some rest for right now; I'll let your doctor know you woke up, okay?"

The youngest Winchester nodded his head slightly and as he allowed his brother to gently push him back against the pillows, Sam opened his eyes briefly and attempted to squeeze Dean's hand,

"…Love…you, Dean…"

Shock flowing through him at his little brother's words as he watched Sam close his eyes again and drift off, Dean gulped and squeezed Sam's hand in return before replying, although he knew he couldn't hear it,

"I love you, too, kid…" More fear started to flow through ever fiber of Dean's being right then. It wasn't just because of those little words that Sam had said; it was the little fact that they had never said those words since they were little kids. Never! Also…when he had asked Sam if he knew what his name was and he had replied "Sammy"…what was up with that? His little brother had flat out refused to be called by that nickname ever since the day he turned 16; even when he had picked him up at Stanford a year ago, he had always tried to get Dean to call him "Sam"; every single time he had attempted to call him "Sammy", his little brother had tried to stop him.

Of course, things had gotten better over the months the longer they hunted together; it had started to get to the point where Dean himself-and on occasion, their father-had been the only one ever allowed to call him that. But…Every time he introduced himself, he introduced himself as "Sam".

"You're gonna be okay, kid," Dean whispered as he moved from Sam's bed and putting the bed bar back up, knowing Doctor Morgan and her team of nurses would throw a huge fit if they came in and saw him sitting there,

"You'll be just fine…" He moved from his chair and walked to the door of his brother's hospital room and opened it, looking back and forth to see if John was returning, but felt a huge surge of anger forming when he saw nothing,

"Where the hell are you, dad?" He growled to himself as he looked back at his injured little brother. With a sigh, he walked back over to Sam's bed and pushed the call button, alerting the staff of his brother having woken up. As he awaited their arrival, Dean took a hold of Sam's good hand again and brought it to his lips, giving it a quick kiss,

"You're gonna be fine. Even if dad's not here right now, you're gonna be fine, because I'll take care of you."

He just hoped he wasn't lying.

0000

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Where's dad, Dean?"

The question coming from his little brother caused Dean to stop in his tracks, Sam's wheelchair coming to a halt just as they made it outside into the fresh air. He had attempted to make excuses to his injured brother for the past two days, trying to come up with some explanation for the father's mysterious disappearance. But he was going to have to say something different sooner or later.

Sam was hurt, but he wasn't stupid. That much he knew ever since he woke up.

The older Winchester had chosen, in those few times when Sam was not sleeping and when it was just the two of them and no doctors or nurses around, to not ask his baby brother too many questions about what he remembered and what he didn't. It was nearly plain as day just from talking with him. But deep down in the pit of his stomach, Dean knew he was going to have to continue to ask Sam the questions he had been wanting to ask for the past few days.

It had appeared that his brain was functioning on the level of a 7 or 8 year old; his words and sentences were shorter, more simple and to the point. But at the same time, Dean could clearly see frustration present in his eyes; it was like his brain wanted to tell him one thing, but what actually came out when he spoke was another. The older Winchester brother closed his eyes briefly as his heart wanted more then anything to tell Sam how he himself was really feeling; how his own feelings towards his baby brother had not changed one bit. But with that frustration that took over Sam's face every time he talked, Dean just didn't know how he would explain it. Did Sam even understand right now that he still loved him, that he still accepted him and didn't think anything less of him? He pushed back a few tears that formed in his eyes at the very possibility; it was too painful to even think about.

There was also the issue of Sam's paralysis. Doctor Morgan had attempted to tell Sam how he would most likely never walk again, but based on his brother's reaction, when he had looked back and forth between Dean and the doctor and said, "I'll try," the older Winchester didn't know what to think right then. On one hand, the last thing he ever wanted was for Sam to fall deep into depression; but on the other, it was like Sam had gotten back this innocence that he used to have when he was a child, before he learned about the supernatural.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, Sam," Dean finally replied as he continued pushing his brother and stopping as their reached the nearby courtyard just outside of the hospital. He took a seat on one of the benches and breathed in the fresh air, mentally preparing himself for this conversation he was about to have.

"Where's dad?" Sam repeated, his brow furrowing in confusion. Dean watched as his little brother was about to ask something else when pain contorted his features and he gripped his broken arm,

"Ow…"

"Here, let me see that arm, Sam," Not getting any argument, which in a way saddened the older brother, Dean pulled his brother's wheelchair closer to him and pulled out the navy blue sling he had taken outside with them. Gently easing Sam's arm into it and securing it across his shoulder and neck, Dean attempted a small smile for his brother's sake,

"Better?"

"Yeah," Sam grinned slightly, even as he cradled his casted arm to his chest.

"I honestly don't know where dad is, Sammy," Dean finally answered the question he knew Sam would ask again if he didn't give some sort of answer,

"He said he was going to get some coffee the day you woke up, but…he never came back." He bit back the urge to call their father a selfish bastard, as he didn't want to bad mouth John in front of Sam, especially when he really didn't have an answer. His gut was telling him John had been stubborn and thrown himself back into the hunt for the Yellow-Eyed demon, but another part was telling him otherwise. His father was injured himself, after all.

But then again, John Winchester was a stubborn son of a bitch, and a broken arm or head injury never stopped the older man from hunting. It would have to take a lot more then that to get him out of the game. Their father wasn't answering any calls Dean had made to him, no matter how many times he had tried calling his cell; no matter how many messages he left on his voice mail, there was still nothing. If there was anything this reminded Dean of, it was when John had first disappeared before he went and got Sam from Stanford…and all those months since.

"It's okay," Sam finally replied and Dean's own green eyes widened in slight surprise as his little brother continued,

"He'll come back."

"Sam," Dean sucked in a slight trembling breath,

"I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's alright…"

"Sure." Came the immediate reply. Sam had sort of a gut instinct to what it was his brother needed to ask him, but he didn't say anything and allowed Dean to talk.

"Sammy, what's the last thing you remember?"

The younger Winchester frowned in concentration as he tried to force his brain to work, to attempt to answer this question. The last thing he remembered…If he thought about it, if he really thought about it long and hard, there was only one real answer to that question,

"Jessica." Sadness crept over his face as he lowered his head,

"She died."

His heart hurting for his little brother, Dean swallowed hard and went on,

"Do you remember anything after that, Sammy? It's really important that you think about that, okay?"

Frowning once again and his brow furrowing, Sam squeezed his hazel eyes shut and when he spoke again, his voice trembled slightly,

"I remember monsters. Monsters are real, Dean; and we kill them."

Feeling a sense of relief that Sam at least remembered this part of their life, Dean let out the breath he had been holding in and reached forward to grasp Sam's right hand,

"Sam, do you remember how old you are?"

"Um…22?" Sam was hesitant as he replied. He was growing more and more flustered as he knew that he used to know the answers to most of these questions; but what his brain was telling him and what came out of his mouth where two totally different things. He forced back a few tears of sadness at this realization as he continued,

"I'm 22?"

"Close enough, buddy," Dean nodded his head,

"You just turned 23 actually."

"23," Sam nodded in confirmation,

"I'm a grown-up…" Inside, the younger Winchester wanted to slap himself for the words that were escaping him,

"I know that."

"Yeah, you are," Dean quietly acknowledged,

"What do you remember about mom, Sammy?" He sucked in a shaky breath as he waited for Sam's reply.

Sam blinked his eyes a couple of times before answering,

"We don't have a mom. She died, too."

"Do you know how she died, kiddo?" The older brother continued to push. With every answer to every question, Dean felt himself growing more and more sad; it was like, just from the expressions on Sam's face, his brother knew the answers to the questions, he knew them in his heart. But his brain was telling him something else and he was unable to get the words out.

"No. She was killed, though," Sam lowered his head, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes,

"But I have you and dad, right?"

"Of course you do, Sam," Dean instantly replied with a shaky smile before it disappeared and he cleared his throat,

"There's one other thing I need to tell you, kiddo."

"What's that?"

"Sam, you heard what your doctor had to say about your legs, right?" Dean gently went on, trying to make this conversation as less painful as possible for his brother,

"About you not being able to walk?"

"It's okay, Dean," Sam shrugged his shoulders,

"I'll get better, right?"

"Sam…" The older Winchester sighed heavily, running a hand threw his short, dark hair and turning away from Sam's puppy dog, hazel eyes. His own eyes rested on a nearby window in the hospital and silently cursed himself for the words he was about to say, but knew they had to be said,

"Sam, it most likely won't…"

"What do you mean?" Sam frowned, not completely understanding what it was his big brother was trying to tell him. Sure, he couldn't walk right now, but that was alright. That was why he was still in the hospital, so that he could get better, so that he COULD get the feeling and use back in his legs and walk again. Walk out of this hospital actually,

"I don't understand, Dean…"

"Sammy, your spinal cord was severely damaged in the accident we were in, buddy," Dean gently explained, his hand still holding his brother's,

"It's not fixable. The doctors were telling the truth, Sam; this isn't something that can be fixed…" His voice choked up slightly as he gave his brother's hand a light squeeze,

"But I'm gonna take care of you, alright? Just like I always did. That's one thing that hasn't changed."

"But…" Sam shook his head stubbornly, the frown never leaving his face,

"There has to be some way…something that can be done, Dean. You can fix it, right?" A look of innocence came over the younger brother's face as he looked desperately into Dean's sorrowful eyes,

"Right?"

Dean fell silent as he looked away from his brother's puppy dog gaze.

He had failed his little brother once again…just like he always did.

_But he won't be alone during this, I'll make certain of it. Even if dad…_His thoughts were cut short and he shook his head stubbornly. His father could go and rot in a grave for all he cared right now. His baby brother needed him and he was going to be there for him, he was going to help him heal…whether John chose to be there or not.

0000

"You do realize that your son has been trying to get a hold of you for the last couple of days, right?"

Doctor Morgan's familiar voice sounded from Sam's hospital room and Dean frowned as he took in the words she was saying. What the hell? There was only one person she would be speaking to right then, only person who would be referring to him as "your son"…John was back.

And Dean was about ready to blow a gasket.

His hands clenched on the handles of his little brother's wheelchair and had to force himself to not snap when he heard their father's voice reply,

"I had some important issues I needed to take care of, doctor."

"Dad!" Sam's voice sounded from the wheelchair and with as much gentleness as he could muster, Dean lowered a hand and clamped it on his brother's shoulder, squeezing tightly,

"Dad's here, Dean."

Choosing not to reply except for a nod of his head, the older Winchester rolled his brother into the hospital room and lo and behold, John was standing next to Sam's empty bed, talking with Doctor Morgan. A glare was already planted across Dean's face as he met his father's eyes, even when John picked this opportunity to smile directly at him,

"Hey, Dean. Sammy."

"Where were you?" Dean demanded, the glare never leaving his face,

"I've been calling you and leaving you messages, dad. What ever happened to 'I'm going to get a cup of coffee'?"

John's dark eyes narrowed into slits at the tone of his oldest son's, but before he could retort back, Doctor Morgan interrupted,

"Well, he's here now." She pinned John with a serious look,

"And really, it couldn't have come at a better time." She glanced over towards Sam and Dean, who were still in the doorway to the room,

"There's some things that need to be discussed and now that you all three are here…let's begin, shall we?"

His green eyes still hard as stone as they never left his father's face, Dean wheeled his little brother over to the side of his bed and put the breaks on before taking a seat right next to him, a gentle hand still resting on his shoulder,

"What's up, doc?"

"We need to discuss the options for when Sam is released," She began, taking her patient's chart out from underneath her arm and flipping through it,

"He's still going to have lots of healing to do, so I've been looking at some possible group homes-"

"No!" Dean shouted, not letting her finish,

"Absolutely not!"

"Dean, let her finish," John demanded, shooting a glare his son's way.

Her eyebrows arched at the exchange between father and son, Doctor Morgan cleared her throat somewhat nervously and went on,

"There are some really good group homes that you can put Sam in. Some that are really close to the hospital. That way, they can take care of him, help him-"

"I said absolutely not!" Dean interrupted yet again, rising to his feet and now towering over the young doctor,

"And quit talking about my brother like he isn't in the same room with you!" He nodded down towards his little brother, who wasn't even looking at them, but was instead fiddling with the sling his casted arm still rested in,

"He can understand and hear you just fine-"

"Actually, Dean, she does have a point." John cut in, also rising to his feet and standing on Doctor Morgan's other side,

"That's kind of the reason I've been gone the last few days and haven't returned any of your calls."

"What are you talking about?" Dean's voice held an edge to it as he moved until he was standing protectively in front of Sam,

"What did you do?"

Not flinching once at Dean's tone, John turned his full attention back to Sam's doctor and began,

"I've been looking into group homes myself, and I came across some really good ones for my son. I've already signed him up, as a matter of fact."

"That's really wonderful of you to do, Mr. Winchester," Doctor Morgan smiled, not facing Dean as she spoke, already knowing that the older brother was glaring daggers at both of them. She opened her mouth and was about to continue when a knock on the open door sounded from behind them and she turned to see a tall male nurse in blue scrubs standing there.

"We're ready for the brain scan, Doctor Morgan."

"Perfect, thanks, Peter" She nodded with a tight smile as she turned back to the Winchester's,

"We're about to take your son for another scan, so why don't you two talk this through until I return?" She moved to take the handles of Sam's wheelchair and nearly missed the flinch the younger brother gave as he was moved away from Dean.

"Dean?" He whispered, turning large hazel eyes up at his big brother.

"I'll be right here when you get back, little brother," Dean promised as he took Sam's hand up in his once more and squeezed tightly,

"I promise." He waited until Sam had nodded his head in understanding before he gave a nod of permission to Doctor Morgan, but pinned her with a sharp look as she passed. He waited until his brother's wheelchair had disappeared down the hall before he grasped the door handle and yanked it shut behind him, not wanting to cause a scene for the discussion he was about to have with his father,

"What the hell where you thinking, dad?"

"Don't talk to me in that tone of voice, son," John glared right back, stepping closer until he was nose to nose with his son,

"This is my choice, not yours; Sam's my son, not yours. And after all, he won't be able to hunt, what other choice to do we have, Dean?"

"Hunting?" Dean repeated, disgust flowing through him at just the very word,

"That's what this is about? You really think I'm going to agree to come with you, to go after that demon, after this? You seriously think I'm going to leave Sammy's side, put him in some god-forsaken home with strangers-"

"Yes, that's exactly what I think," John interrupted, his eyes narrowed into slits, anger flowing through every fiber of his being. He couldn't believe they were even having this conversation! He had just spent the last amount of money he had stashed away into this group home and now Dean was trying to talk him out of it? Disgust and anger towards his youngest once again churned in his stomach, but he pushed it down as he faced his oldest son,

"You're gonna come with me and leave your brother with the professionals. That's an order."

"And I refuse, dad," Dean growled,

"God, how could you be so selfish-"

"Selfish? SELFISH? I'm going after the thing that killed your mother, Dean. Your mother! Your brother won't be able to help-"

"Then go," The younger Winchester interrupted, pulling away as he felt his father's hand come in contact with his upper arm,

"Go on without me. Sammy and I don't need you."

"Like hell you don't, son," John mumbled with a shake of his head,

"How are you gonna take care of him, huh? He can't walk, much less even take care of himself! I told you the other day that he would have to take responsibility for his actions the other night. Well, this is it, Dean-"

"You're sick, you realize that, dad?" Dean shook his head as he took a step back, unable to believe this man was even his father,

"You've always put the hunt over your sons, and now when one of them needs you more then anything, you bail on him! You bail on us! Well, let me tell you something, dad, I'm not letting you do this, and I'm not coming with you, so if you wanta go, then go. I'm not stopping you." He shook his head again as he felt some of his anger dwindle and in its place was sadness over how he was going to have to tell Sam this,

"You know something, dad…Sam might be brain-damaged, but he's still Sam. If you had only stayed here instead of being sneaky like that, you would have seen that. You would have put your son first for once in your life…"

"Dean-"

"Just go, dad," The disgust returned to Dean's voice as he sunk into the chair beside Sam's empty bed,

"Just go." He didn't even bother to look up as John walked right past him and to the door, but as the door opened and the footsteps stopped, Dean glanced back up and met his father's eyes once more. It was hard to decipher to look he was giving him, but Dean didn't even flinch even as John spoke one last time.

"You're making a huge mistake, Dean."

And with that, John Winchester was gone.

0000

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"You're making a huge mistake, Dean." Before the older man walked out, he flippantly added over his shoulder,

"Oh and by the way, you might want to take care of the Impala since you're so responsible now. I had it towed to the motel across the street…if you happen to care about it."

Just as John's back was disappearing out the door of Sam's hospital room, Dean shook his head in utter and complete disgust and then hung it. His eyes travelled to Sam's empty hospital bed and felt guilt, anger and more guilt flow through every fiber of his being. He had seen the look on his little brother's face as John had spoken; he had seen the way Sammy's wide hazel eyes had gone from relief at seeing their father to shock and sadness as he listened to the words that were spoken.

If there was one thing Dean wished he had been able to do before his father had disappeared, though, was to throw a hard punch into his jaw…but then he most likely would have gotten into heaps of trouble and he couldn't have that, especially if he was going to be taking care of his brother on his own.

Slumping forward in his chair, Dean rested his head in his hands before running a trembling hand through his hair. How the hell could John had gone behind their backs to enroll Sam into a group home? How the hell could John had fully expected Dean to return to the hunt and just leave Sammy behind? Did his father even know him at all? And on top of all that, John and Doctor Morgan had all been carrying on with their conversation about Sam as if his baby brother wasn't even in the same room; as if he wasn't able to hear them or understand their words.

Because Dean knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sam was fully capable of understanding it. And he had been hurt…terribly hurt. He just didn't have the capabilities to express that hurt. But the older Winchester knew better, Sam was still an adult; he was still capable of making his own decisions and if his brother refused to go into some shitty group home-God forbid-then they couldn't make him.

That was that.

But what the hell were they going to do?

Just as that question was ringing in his head and he was running a hand over his forehead as a pounding headache was starting, Dean felt the familiar vibration of his cell phone and with one quick glance at it, the older brother flipped it open and answered with in a quiet voice,

"Hey, Bobby."

"You boys alright over there, Dean?" Came the gruff reply, which was laced with concern,

"Haven't heard from you and Sam since you left. Did you find your daddy alright?"

Dean closed his green eyes and leaned back in his chair, running a shaking hand through his hair. If he believed in prayer or God at that moment, he would have sent one up to say "thank you"; after all, this phone call couldn't have come at a better time…and Bobby was one of the only people, besides Sammy, that he could trust,

"Oh thank God, Bobby…"

"Dean?" Bobby's concern grew a notch,

"Boy, what happened?"

"Dad is what happened," Dean allowed a low growl to escape as he opened his eyes and rose to his feet, starting to pace around the room,

"We've got trouble, Bobby…and Sammy and I need your help…"

"What'dya need, Dean?" Came the immediate reply.

For the next couple of minutes, the older Winchester brother explained all that transpired within the last couple of days, ever since that semi had hit the Impala, leading up to Sam's current condition,

"Sammy's paralyzed, Bobby…there's also brain damage done…" Dean finally choked out, leaning against the wall and staring up at the ceiling as he spoke,

"And dad…"

"Let me take a wild guess here, Dean," The older hunter carefully cut in,

"He wanted you to continue hunting with him, right?"

With a single nod, Dean replied,

"That, and put Sammy into a group home for the disabled-"

"No, absolutely not," A low growl sounded in Bobby Singer's voice and Dean could have sworn, just from the sound of his friend's voice, that he was about to throw something across the room,

"You boys are coming home with me. I'm not gonna have you two stay anywhere else, you hear me?"

With a heavy sigh, the older Winchester brother walked over to Sam's bed and took a seat on the edge, one hand rubbing at his throbbing forehead,

"He can't walk, Bobby…we can't put this on you-"

"Yes, you can, and you will," The family friend interrupted sternly, his tone of voice leaving no room for argument,

"And have you ever heard of a little thing called construction? I did most of the work on this house, so I'm sure I can take care of adding on an extra bedroom or so. When Sam gets out of the hospital-"

"He's not going to be staying here, Bobby," Dean shook his head stubbornly, determination rising within him,

"I'm sneaking him out of here…I don't know how we'll do it, with the Impala in the state it's in, but I'll figure something out-"

"Nu-uh," Bobby once again objected,

"I'll pick you two idjits up and we'll tow that care of yours over to my place, okay?" Once Dean didn't reply, the older man continued, his tone rising,

"Do you understand me here, Dean?"

"Yes, sir," Dean grumbled quietly and was about to make another smart-ass remark when the familiar sound of Sam's wheelchair sounded from the hallway,

"Listen, Bobby, I gotta get going-"

"Just tell me where the Impala is first."

"Dad said he towed it to the motel across the street from the hospital," Dean replied quickly, turning around from where he was seated on the bed just in time to see his little brother being wheeled back into the room,

"We'll see you soon. Thanks, Bobby." Without waiting for a reply, the older Winchester hung up and stuffed his phone back into his pocket,

"I've got this, doctor." He piped up just as Doctor Morgan was making an attempt to move Sam back into his bed.

With a nod of her head, Doctor Morgan met Dean's eyes before he moved back to his brother's side,

"We'll need to talk more regarding getting your brother into that group home-"

"He's not going into any group home, lady! Quit making these decisions for my brother!" Dean snapped, moving to rest a careful and gentle hand on Sam's shoulder and felt the tension there,

"And stop talking about him like he's not there, because if I hear you or my father doing that one more time…" He stopped speaking when he felt Sam's hand clasp onto his and squeeze tightly,

"Just give us some privacy, please?"

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes as she walked out the door, Dean had to force himself to not go running after the doctor and it wasn't until he felt Sam's hand squeezing his again that he turned back and sat down in the nearest chair, facing his little brother,

"How you feeling, Sammy?"

"I'm good," Sam replied back shortly with a shrug of one shoulder,

"Dean…where's dad?"

"Sam…" The older brother sighed for what felt like the millionth time in just a matter of minutes and rubbed his face, feeling the stubble already growing there due to not having shaved in the last couple of days,  
"Sam, that's what I need to talk with you about, alright?"

"I heard what dad said, Dean," Sam lowered his hazel eyes down to his lap, his good hand fiddling with a loose string of the sweatpants he was wearing,

"I understood what he said…does he hate me?"

"No, Sam," Dean shook his head emphatically, silently cursing his father for having the audacity to do such a thing. Although he had always worshipped the ground his father walked on, there was one particular thing he never took any crap regarding and that was Sammy. It had always been that way and always would be that way, especially now more then ever,

"He's our dad; he loves us…" He silently cringed at the words as it sure as hell didn't feel like his father loved them right now. If he did, would he had left them like this, left Sam like this? But then again, John always put the hunt for the demon above anything else, and that included his very own sons. The older Winchester had silently hoped that the accident would cause their father to finally open his eyes and see things from a new perspective, but instead his attitude was becoming worse and worse and it sickened Dean as he recalled that conversation he had with him just before he walked out the door,

"But he's being an ass here, Sammy…"

"I don't want to go, Dean," The younger Winchester shook his head hard as he squeezed his brother's hand as hard as he could.

"Go where, little bro?"

"To…that place dad said I was going to go," Sam bit his lip and then frowned, forcing himself to concentrate. He should know what it was his father had said, but his brain couldn't recall the correct words,

"I want to go with you, Dean…" He shook his head again as he felt a few tears prickle his eyes and slow rolled down his cheeks,

"Don't let them take me…"

"I won't," The older brother firmly, yet gently, promised as he let go of Sam's hand and pulled his brother's now shaking frame into his own arms. Resting a hand on the back of Sam's neck, he left it there as he felt slight trembling in his little brother's shoulders,

"Those sons of bitches aren't getting anywhere near you, understood?" When he didn't get a reply except for the sounds of a few quiet sobs against his shoulder, Dean gently rubbed his brother's back while the other stayed on the back of Sam's neck,

"I swear to God they won't. Dad will come around, I'm sure of it; but he doesn't hate you…"

Sam paid close attention to what his big brother was telling him. He was trying with everything in him to believe that his father didn't hate him; after all, Dean never lied to him and he wouldn't start now, not when he needed him most. But he heard the words that were being spoken between his dad and his doctor…and he couldn't seem to forget them. He might be hurt; he might be damaged; he might not be the same person that he used to be…but he still had a brain and he still his hearing. And hearing his own father pretty much talking to Dean and his doctor like he wasn't there…he wouldn't admit it to his brother, but it did hurt.

And now, he was gone.

"Sammy, you'll be okay," Dean whispered into his ear, giving him a tight squeeze around his shoulders before releasing him, but kept a firm grip on his upper arm,

"Bobby's gonna be by soon and we'll be staying with him, alright?"

"Bobby?" Sam lifted an eyebrow,

"Really?"

"Yeah," The older brother nodded with a small grin, wanting to give at least a little bit of hope to Sam right now. If there was anything his brother needed, besides himself, it was that,

"We'll get you out of this joint and away from that bitchy doctor…we'll sneak you out of here if we have to."

"Okay," The younger brother nodded in agreement, lifting his right hand and wiping away the tear tracks on his face,

"Just don't go."

"Not going anywhere," Dean promised again. He would keep making that promise for as long as he had to. It would have to take more then a son of a bitch father and a doctor who shouldn't even have her medical license to tear him away from his little brother.

0000

Bobby Singer ran his hand over the damage done to the black 1967 Chevy Impala and inwardly grimaced as he took it all in. How in the world had anybody even managed to survive the impact? There had to have been someone watching over the Winchester's, there was no other logical explanation. The older hunter knew just from looking at the nearly totaled car that it was practically impossible to even attempt to rebuild it; but the more the thought of it, and the more he thought of Dean and his obsession with this car, Bobby knew deep in his gut that the older Winchester would eventually want to attempt to fix her up.

If there was at least one working part, he wasn't going to give up on it; that much he did know.

Just like his little brother.

Sam.

Turning away from the car which was secured tightly to the back of his tow truck, Bobby sighed softly and looked up at the hospital which he had parked in. It had been a day and a half since he had last talked with Dean, and the older hunter would have arrived as soon as he had gotten off the phone with his friend, but there were things that needed to be taken care of first of all.

First of all, he needed to call in some favors from some fellow hunters. If he was going to be adding on to his house, it wasn't just going to happen in a day and he would need some type of help when it came to paying for all the equipment. Thankfully, he knew of a bunch of friends and fellow hunters who were more then willing to help him out, whether it came to remodeling his kitchen or his downstairs bathroom, or adding on an extra bedroom…one which he knew Dean would want to share with his brother.

He hadn't even seen the younger Winchester since the accident, but from Dean's broken voice and the details he had given regarding John and his doctor, Bobby's gut churned with anger and he silently cursed John out for once again being a stupid son of a bitch and putting the damn hunt before his injured boy. What kind of father was that?

Deep in his gut, he tried to reassure himself that, yes, John Winchester was a stupid son of a bitch who needed a good ass-kicking, but he would never physically hurt his boys on purpose and when it came right down to it, he would be there for them, no questions asked. But, as Bobby walked through the sliding glass doors of the hospital and made his way to the nearest elevator to Sam's room, he also remembered Dean's words the previous day when he had explained in full detail of how John had blamed Sam for his current condition.

How he had to take "responsibility" for his actions.

And those "actions" caused the older hunter to want to throw his fist into the nearest wall. Apparently, John had blamed Sam because he allowed Yellow-Eyes to escape…just so that he could save his father's life.

Sam was a hero and yet, his father refused to see it that way. Instead, he saw his youngest son as an inconvenience and a burden; someone who he was more then ready to shuffle off into a group home to get out of his hair, just so Dean could help him in the hunt again.

"You stupid bastard," Bobby growled to himself as he moved into the elevator and pressed the fourth floor button. He straightened his cap on his head and rubbed his forehead as the elevator moved floor to floor,

"Will you ever learn?"

Minutes later as he finally made his way towards the closed door to the room where Dean said Sam was currently residing in, Bobby sighed and knocked softly before opening it up. He almost regretted those actions when he was greeted, not with his boys talking to each other, but with an empty hospital bed and Dean practically screaming into his cell phone as he paced back and forth. Moving all the way into the room, Bobby shut the door behind him to give them some privacy and not cause any ruckus if Dean was heard.

"He's not a child, dad!" Dean was growling as he stopped by the nearby window and leaned his head against it,

"You can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do! Why can't you see-No, dad…NO, dad! It's not his fault; the damn accident wasn't his fault and he doesn't need to take responsibility for something he had no control over! I never asked you to pay for a group home, I never asked you to use the money you have, so you can't…Dad, will you listen to yourself for a moment-No, I-Dad…" Bobby watched as Dean moved away from the window and turned, stopping and his green eyes widening with relief at seeing him standing in the doorway,

"No, Sam's not here right now. You seriously think I would allow my brother to listen to us fight over the phone like this? Oh, so now you're concerned-He's gone to get another scan done on his legs, alright?" The older brother let out a long sigh and collapsed into a nearby chair,

"I'm not going anywhere with you, dad; and you can think again if you really think I'm going to leave Sammy in a group home. I-Dad-No, dad, we've got a place all lined up. Yeah, we're staying at Bobby's." Dean snorted and rolled his eyes at the reply on the other end of the line, which Bobby could just barely make out from the other side of the room,

"We'll figure that out without your help, thanks, dad." Without saying anything else, Dean hung up and returned his phone into his pocket,

"Sorry about that, Bobby…"

"No sweat, boy," The older, gruff hunter replied with a tight smile,

"That father of yours still giving you shit?"

"Him and Doctor Morgan," Dean rose to his feet and threw his hands up in the air,

"She seriously thinks that putting Sam into a group home is for the best and she won't lay off! She thinks the brain damage done to him is so severe that I won't be able to take care of him…She doesn't even know the kid, Bobby!"

"That's why we'll be getting him out of here as soon as it's clear out there."

"We weren't expecting you this soon, Bobby," Dean arched an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest,

"Really, you remodeled your home that quickly? I knew you were good, but I didn't realize you were that good!"

"Shut your mouth, boy; you know it's not finished yet," Bobby smirked,

"But I needed to call in some favors to some friends, to help out with remodeling the basics areas of that house…that way, it'll be much easier for Sam to move around, you know?"

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean lowered his voice slightly,

"Sam should be back in a while; Doctor Morgan and her team of nurses took him down for another scan on his legs. Things aren't looking good, Bobby…"

"Tell me more about this brain-damage, son," Bobby took a seat in one of the chairs beside the empty hospital bed while Dean continued pacing.

"He's still Sammy, Bobby; that much I can guarantee," Dean's voice held such conviction, such certainty, that Bobby knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was telling the truth. After all, nobody knew all things Sam like his big brother. Nobody, not even his own father,

"He knows who he is. He knows he's an adult and how old he is. He knows who his family is. But his words are much shorter and he appears more…I don't know how to describe it…more innocent…? He knows about the supernatural to an extent; he knows it exists, but when I asked him what he remembered, all he replied with was that we 'killed' it. He doesn't remember the visions or even Yellow-Eyes. He remembers Jess, though…" His voice broke slightly at the mere mention of his brother's former girlfriend who had been killed the same way their mother had.

"So he's functioning on a level of a 7 or 8 year old," Bobby replied, looking the younger boy in the eye,

"But he knows that's not how old he is, right?" At Dean's nod, the older hunter continued,

"That's alright. Does he know I'm coming…or better yet, does he know who I am?"

"That he does remember," The older brother smiled slightly,

"Brain-damage or no brain-damage, who could forget your face, old man?"

"Well, this 'old man' can kick your ass from here to Kingdom Come if you don't watch it!" Bobby growled, although no real heat was in his voice,

"We'll figure this out, Dean. And we'll figure John out…"

"I don't even wanta discuss him right now, Bobby," Dean mumbled, his green eyes changing from joking to near hatred as he spoke,

"The son of a bitch left us again when he was needed the most. I want nothing to do with him."

0000

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Dean…You can't mean that," Bobby found the words escaping his mouth before he could stop them. He let out a long sigh with a shake of his head and looked up at his younger friend, seeing the way Dean's eyes sparked nothing but pure hatred,

"He's your father, he's Sam's father. You seriously can't mean-"

"I mean it, Bobby," Dean snapped in reply, walking over and taking a seat in his usual seat on the other side of Sam's empty hospital bed,

"I don't want to see him; he's pretty much made his point, hasn't he? He never once even bothered to say a damn word to Sammy the entire time he WAS here! The closest he came to speaking to him like a person…he was talking to the doctor ABOUT him, not TO him! What kind of father does that to their own son, Bobby?"

Bobby lowered his head and let Dean's words sink in. The older hunter understood everything that his friend was saying; hell, he even agreed with it! What kind of father would do something like that with a clean conscience? The answer was simple, John Winchester would.

But that was just it. John was the boys' father, their only living parent and although the bastard was just that, a bastard, he was still their father and no matter what kind of shit the older man had pulled over the years, he had always come through when it really mattered.

Didn't he?

"Just…go with me on this one, okay, Bobby?" Dean attempted to calm down a little as he ran a trembling hand over his face. Sam was due back any time now and he wasn't about to allow his injured little brother see him this way,

"For right now, I don't wanta talk to the man. He can go and hunt for all I care…"

"Alright, Dean," Bobby replied with another long sigh as he removed his cap and ran a hand over his nearly bald head,

"I won't contact him or anything or attempt to get a hold of him; you can hang up on the idjit if he calls you on your phone. But if he calls my house and wants to speak with you, I'm not going to attempt to stop him from speaking with his boys, especially if he wants to speak with Sam. Dean…you said so yourself, he never said a word to your brother and considering Sam's in the condition he is right now, it would only hurt him more if he found out John didn't talk to him because of something like this-"

"He already knows, Bobby," The older Winchester brother shook his head in disgust,

"Sam knows…He kept asking me whether or not dad hates him…" When he was greeted with silence from Bobby, Dean continued with a lowered voice,

"I can't tell him the full truth about those words dad said, I can't. It would kill him."

"I understand, Dean…" Bobby looked his friend straight in the eye,

"But I promise you this though." Making sure he had Dean's full attention, he went on,

"If that son of a bitch father of yours calls and wants to speak to Sam, I will only allow him to do it if he's genuine about it, alright? If he's not, it won't happen. I promise." He watched as Dean's eyes softened somewhat as he nodded in understanding and just as he was getting ready to say something else, the sounds of footsteps and a wheelchair coming down the hall sounded and he watched as Dean rose to his feet to stand in front of the doorway just as Sam and Doctor Morgan reappeared in front of them.

"We'll take it from here," Dean found himself saying once again,

"Thanks, Doctor Morgan." His green eyes narrowed into slits as he took the handles of his brother's wheelchair, more or less pushing the doctor out of the way and ignoring the irritated look crossing her face.

"Mr. Winchester, we've been trying to be patient with you here regarding your brother's condition; but if you're not going to abide by hospital policy and allow for us to do our job, I'm going to have to ask you to leave-"

"Like hell you will," Dean snapped in reply, still blocking Sam's view of Bobby on the other side of the bed,

"I'm not going anywhere-"

"If you continue with the attitude, I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist and call security!" Doctor Morgan folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at the younger man before turning to face Bobby, who had risen to his feet,

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but are you family?"

"Yes," Bobby's voice was clipped as he finally moved into Sam's line of vision and watched as his younger friend's hazel eyes widened in surprise and relief at seeing them. Shooting a quick, reassuring smile the boy's way, the older hunter turned his attention back to the doctor,

"I'm their uncle and I'll be taking Sam home with me-"

"There's a group home already lined up for Samuel-"

"Fuck the group home, lady!" Dean snapped heatedly, resting a comforting hand on his little brother's shoulder as he watched Sam's head lower and his eyes turn from embarrassed to sad,

"How many times do I have to tell you-"

"Dean," Bobby interrupted gently, his eyes still on Doctor Morgan,

"Why don't you go and take your brother outside for a few minutes while I have some words with her?" He nodded in the doctor's direction,

"I'll meet you boys out there in a few."

"Bobby?" Sam finally spoke up, his voice tinged with fear,

"Don't go…"

"Don't you worry, boy," Bobby smiled reassuringly in his friend's direction and knelt down at eye level with Sam,

"I'm not going anywhere." The older man felt his heart break slightly as he watched a few tears well up in the younger Winchester's eyes and felt him lean forward to wrap his good arm around his shoulders in a hug. His eyes meeting Dean's behind Sam's back, his heart continued to break at the older brother's expression and with a quiet sigh, hugged his friend back gently before releasing him and smiled at both boys,

"Get some fresh air." Sending a silent, although unnecessary message to Dean to look after his brother, Bobby waited until the two had made their way out the door before closing it behind them.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The words were out of Bobby's mouth before he could stop them, but he refused to back down. Dean had told him what this particular doctor had been saying and doing whenever Sam was in her care, but now that he saw it with his own two eyes, he felt his gut churning with anger,

"You're supposed to be taking care of that boy, helping him, not talking to him like he's not in the room or that he can't hear or understand you!"

"Listen, sir, this is between the patient and myself. Now, if you can't keep your voice down, I'm going to have to call security to escort you out as well-"

"You might want to re-think that, lady," Bobby interrupted furiously, moving from the closed door to stand nose to nose with her, but kept his voice down so as to not disturb the other patients on this ward,

"You have absolutely no idea what you're doing, do you?" At the doctor's annoyed look, the older hunter continued, crossing his arms over his chest as he pinned her with a glare that normally shut John Winchester up whenever he was out of line,

"You have no idea who you've been dealing with these past couple of days. You have no idea that that brother of Sam's that you just threatened to throw out of here could kill you with his eyes closed if you so much as harmed a hair on Sam's head. No, you didn't hurt him physically; you're a doctor after all," His glare hardened and his voice lowered even more as he watched her back up a step,

"But you listen to me. That boy who you keep trying to put into some God-forsake GROUP HOME actually has feelings; he can hear you just fine and he can understand every word you're throwing out to his family instead of HIM."

Not one to back down and feeling anger towards this man who was speaking to her this way, Doctor Morgan folded her arms across her chest and stared Bobby Singer down and glared right back at him,

"I highly recommend you don't talk to me this way. I am more then capable of having you arrested for harassment-"

"And I can have your damn medical license removed for the way you're treating my boy," Bobby growled in return, pleased to see her flinch at that comment,

"That hit a nerve, didn't it? Thought so."

"Are you threatening me?" Doctor Morgan snapped,

"Sir, you are out of line and I'm going to have to ask you to leave now-"

"I'm not finished," The gruff hunter blocked her path as she attempted to make her way to the door,

"Those boys mean the world to me, more then they'll ever mean to that father of his who disappeared. I will protect them with my very life, even from you if it comes down to it. So I'm only going to say this once." He stopped and took a step closer to her until he was looking her straight in the eye, watching as she flinched once more,

"Quit being the bitch from Hell, Doctor Morgan, or I'll make your life a living Hell; and believe me, you don't want that. And you don't want to hear what Dean has to say; he's worse then I am." His eyes flashing sparks as he finally saw fear in her eyes, Bobby stepped out of the way and allowed her to walk out of the room,

"You might want to return to your other patients now. I'm done."

As soon as she rushed out the door, Bobby was just able to make out how her face had paled and he mumbled to himself,

"And we need to get the hell out of here…"

0000

"Goddamn it, Dean!" John Winchester was livid as he snapped his phone shut, shaking his head as he collapsed on the motel bed,

"You have no idea what you're doing, son…" He stared at the phone in his hand and then threw it on the bed next to him.

It had been several days since he had willingly walked out of Sam's hospital room without so much as saying a single word to his injured son; it had also been several days since his fight with Dean. But John, being the stubborn son of a bitch that he was, was not willing to let this go without a fight. Dean had no idea what he was getting himself into, that much John knew and he had thought if he gave his eldest son a few days of space, it would give Dean a clear mind and he would see where his father was coming from.

But no such luck. If anything, Dean was even more pissed off at him now then he was back in the hospital; and that was saying a whole hell of a lot as his son was ready to kill him to protect his brother. John wasn't stupid. He knew how much Sammy meant to Dean.

But then again, Dean didn't know the things the oldest Winchester did, and that was yet another reason John was so angry now.

"Son of a bitch!" He snapped to the empty motel room, running a hand over his face and through his beard.

It had been such a long last couple of days and John was drained, even though those last couple of days he had spent just driving and getting the hell out of dodge and away from that damn hospital. From Sam.

He knew he was being an ass; how could he not know? But nobody understood this the way he did; nobody understood the disappointment he was feeling towards his youngest. This all could have been over and done with if not for Sam. If he had just done what he was told for once in his young life, that damn demon would be dead. But once again, he had acted out selfishly and refused to do what his father had ordered him to do and now his youngest was out of hunting. Probably forever.

Even worse, during the time before he had finally met up with his sons for the first time in months, John had found out the worst news imaginable regarding Sam. Horrible news. Which was yet another reason he needed Dean by his side right now, and not playing caretaker for his little brother. But now that was impossible; Dean couldn't even talk to him without yelling at him and he wouldn't even listen to reason.

Grumbling to himself and trying to control his anger, John grabbed his phone once again and tried Dean's number, but instead of ringing, it went straight to voicemail,

"Damnit, Dean…" He let out a long breath and closed his eyes.

What the hell was he going to do now.

_Take it easy for a while, _His mind was telling him and John had to force himself to nod his head in agreement. He didn't like it, but it was really the only logical thing to do at this point. If he kept calling Dean and attempting to talk sense into his son, things would only get worse…and John couldn't have that,

_Go back on the hunt. Do what you normally do and wait a few weeks. Dean will come around._

He had to come around…John knew his oldest boy; if Dean really knew what his little brother was, the same little brother he had spent his whole life protecting, he would agree with him. Yes, he had always ordered Dean to look after his brother, told him that nothing was more important then that kid. He had pretty much put the burden of taking care of Sammy on his Dean's shoulders ever since his Mary had died, and Dean had never given his brother back since then. He had always considered it his job.

And John, even though he hated to admit it, understood to an extent that Dean still considered this his job, but what he didn't know was that his brother hadn't been his brother in over 20 years; and if Dean just knew that…Things would be different, John was certain of it.

"I'll figure this out," The oldest Winchester mumbled as he clenched his hand into a tight fist, ignoring the shooting pain that shot straight up his arm at the very movement. As soon as he had arrived at his motel, he had taken a saw to that stubborn cast that had been on his arm and although it hurt like a bitch, John knew he couldn't have it on if he was going to be hunting and more importantly, taking care of Sam,

"I will figure it out." His dark eyes flashed in anger once more as he clenched and unclenched his fist again.

He would come up with a plan. It would take a while, but he would come up with one and he would follow through with it.

0000

It didn't take long for Bobby to find any of Sam's personal belongings still lying around in the hospital room and shove them into the backpack he found on the ground. As soon as Doctor Morgan had moved out of the hospital room, the older hunter knew it was only a matter of time before security was called and he would be thrown out of this very hospital, with or without Sam and Dean. So within a matter of minutes and Sam's backpack thrown over his shoulder, Bobby took one last look around the room and, satisfied, poked his head out into the hall.

Not seeing Doctor Morgan or any of her nursing staff in his line of vision, Bobby hurried down the hall and towards the nearest elevator, taking it down to the first floor. As he finally neared the bottom, he dug out his cell phone and punched in Dean's number and it only took one ring before his friend picked up.

"Where are you boys?" Bobby demanded.

"Out in the courtyard, Bobby," The older Winchester replied, his voice still laced with anger,

"Is the bitch taken care of or do I need to-?"

"No, you don't need to do or say anything to her," The other hunter interrupted, quickening his pace,

"She's taken care of. How's Sam?" When he was greeted with a silence and a sigh, Bobby growled to himself that he could go back up there and give that doctor another good talking to,

"Meet me in the main entrance, Dean; I'll go and get my truck." Without waiting for a reply, Bobby hurried towards the main entrance and sliding glass doors.

0000

"Bobby's not mad at me, is he?" Sam found himself unable to stop the question as he looked from his lap and back up to his big brother,

"Why did we have to leave?"

"Sam, none of this your fault," Dean replied as quickly as possible, attempting to stop these thoughts before they even entered his little brother's brain,

"Bobby just needed to say a few words to that doctor of yours is all; he didn't want you to hear it."

Frowning slightly, Sam leaned back in his wheelchair and shook his head,

"I don't understand…"

"You don't need to, Sammy," The older brother smiled slightly, trying to push all his anger and hatred towards Doctor Morgan and their father as far away from him as possible. Sam didn't need him being angry; he would only assume he was angry with him and Dean couldn't have that,

"It's not important-"

"But they were going to take me away from you again, Dean…" The younger Winchester felt a chill run through him at the very thought of that possibility,

"Just like dad wanted to-"

"Hey, hey, no more of that, Sam," Dean firmly interrupted, reaching over and grasping his little brother's shoulders,

"Nobody's taking you anywhere, unless it's to Bobby's; and I'm going right with you, so you got nothing to worry about, I swear."

"I miss dad, though, Dean," Sam whispered in reply,

"I still don't understand it…why he…" He stopped and shook his head before attempting a small smile for his brother's sake,

"But I missed Bobby, too."

Returning the smile, despite how he wanted more then anything to call his father out to curse him all over again, Dean squeezed Sam's upper arm and nodded,

"Things will get better from here on out, I promise. Bobby's in the process of remodeling his whole house, that way it'll be easier for you to get around, Sammy."

"So I won't walk again?" Sam's face fell some and his smile disappeared. He had been hoping that something could be done to fix his legs; Dean was always able to fix anything. But now…it really seemed like it wasn't possible,

"It's okay, Dean…"

His heart shattering along with his brother's, Dean wasn't sure how he was supposed to reply. He was just opening his mouth to make some futile attempt to comfort his baby brother when his cell phone rang in his pocket and with one quick glance at the screen, he had it to his ear by the first ring,

"Bobby…Out in the courtyard, Bobby…Is the bitch taken care of or do I need to-?" Understanding crossed his face as he listened to their friend and moments later, he had placed his phone back in his pocket and was rising to his feet to grab the handles of Sam's wheelchair,

"We're outta here, kid. We're going home."

0000

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Hey, Dean?" Sam looked over his shoulder as Dean walked back into the room and placed the paintbrush back into its can,

"Can I ask something?"

Arching an eyebrow at his brother, Dean took a seat on one of the bare mattresses he and Bobby had just moved into the almost completed, newly remodeled room, making sure he was fully facing Sam,

"You know you can, Sammy. What's going on?" He watched as Sam looked down at his lap for a little bit as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world before turning back up to face his brother.

"I'm just wondering…" Sam sucked in a deep breath and met Dean's green eyes,

"How long are we living here, Dean?" He bit his lower lip in thought,

"I mean…forever?"

Frowning at the question, not at all expecting his from his little brother, Dean rose to his feet and grabbed an empty bucket, placing it directly in front of Sam and sitting on it so that he was in reaching distance,

"What brought that up, Sam?" He arched another eyebrow as his little brother turned away from him again and instead fingered the plaster cast that was still on his left arm,

"Sam? What's goin' on in that head of yours, kiddo?"

"Can we stay forever, Dean?" Sam finally spoke, his hazel eyes still looking down at his lap,

"I don't…I don't want to leave…"

"We'll stay as long as we need to; Bobby's said so, Sammy," Dean was starting to grow more confused by the second, especially considering that his brother's face was starting to take on a saddened look,

"Sam, what's going on?" He repeated, reaching out and placing a hand on his brother's knee, even though he knew that Sammy couldn't feel it,

"Sammy? Hey, look at me, alright?" The older Winchester waited until Sam finally looked his way,

"What's wrong? Do you not want to be here-"

"No!" Sam interrupted, his voice raised slightly, but his face soon flushed bright red as he noticed the slight shock on Dean's face,

"I mean, no…I do, Dean. I just don't want to leave…"

"Then what's eating at you?" Dean frowned in concentration, wishing he could get inside his little brother's head and see for himself. It had been a couple of weeks ever since the two brothers had arrived at Bobby's and ever since that day, there had been no talk whatsoever about John Winchester, much less that damn group home that the son of a bitch had been trying to get their youngest into. The first and only time the topic had been brought up was when Dean had asked Bobby just what had went down with Doctor Morgan in the hospital room and how much trouble they were in, more or less. Ever since, the topic had been avoided like the plague and neither Sam or Dean had seemed to minded.

The days soon turned into a couple of weeks, each day both brothers and Bobby himself keeping themselves busy with the remodel of their friend's home. It had been difficult at first on Bobby's end; the last thing he had wanted was for the youngest Winchester to appear useless, for him to feel like because of his disability, there was nothing for him to do anymore to help out. And despite the brain damage, the older hunter knew just from being around his young friend more and more each day that Dean had been right. Sam was still Sam.

In other words, John Winchester had been wrong in every sense of the word and Dean could tell just from the look on Bobby's face at times whenever Sam's back was turned that he was growing angrier at the their father day by day.

But thankfully, there had been no phone calls or attempts at visits, even though John knew very well where they were staying. Dean didn't think he would even be able to hold back his temper if John had attempted to call up, making some sort of apology or excuse for his actions…or even worse, trying to pull him back into the damn hunt.

But that wasn't the case.

Now, the added on extension to Bobby's house was nearing completion and both Dean and Bobby had been keeping Sam busy by allowing him to paint the walls of their new bedroom, even from where he was confined in his wheelchair. The task was simple, it was easy and it didn't require a whole lot of thinking. Which was making Sam's question even more confusing; the younger brother had appeared to be happier ever since they had left the hospital and although his broken arm was still healing, Sam seemed to be doing alright, all things considering.

"Will we ever see dad again?" Sam quietly asked, looking back up at his big brother seriously,

"I miss him, Dean…"

Taken aback by the next question, Dean's hand tightened on Sam's knee and his green eyes widened in shock,

"What?"

"Will dad come by at all?" The younger brother continued quietly,

"I just miss him…"

"Why do you miss him, Sammy?" Dean's frown deepened, trying to understand how his little brother could miss John. The man was an ass, that's all there was to it; he not once even spoke to his son the time he was in the hospital and when he was in the same room with Sam, he had pretended that their youngest wasn't even there. How could Sam miss somebody like that, father or not?

"Because he's our dad, Dean," Sam replied as if it was the most obvious answer ever,

"He's…he's dad. I want him here, Dean, and I miss him. Don't you miss him?"

"Dad was an ass to you, Sam! He completely ignored you the entire time after the accident, he tried to put you into some shitty group home even! Why the hell would you miss the guy?" Dean raised his voice a notch, not paying any attention to his words and they were out of his mouth before he could stop them,

"Seriously, Sammy, what kind of father is that? He tried to take you away from us; he was blaming you for everything; hell, he was even saying it was all your fault! Now tell me, Sam, what kind of father does that make him!" By the time the words had escaped him, the older Winchester wanted nothing more then to slap himself, especially when he looked up and saw the wide-eyed look on his little brother's face and the tears that were now starting to fall,

"Oh my God…Sammy-"

"Leave me alone, Dean," Sam quietly uttered, pain filling his eyes at his brother's words. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why Dean would be saying those types of things, especially about their father. It made absolutely no sense,

"Please…" He slightly pulled away when he felt Dean grasp onto his right arm,

"Dean-" He was cut off when he felt his big brother wrap his arms tightly around his shoulders and pull him to him. Closing his eyes as tightly as he could to stop the tears that were flowing down his cheeks, Sam tensed up slightly in Dean's arms and attempted to pull away, but his brother's grip only tightened,

"Please…let me go-"

"God, Sammy, I'm so sorry," Dean whispered into his brother's hair, not giving in and letting Sam go even when he felt him tense up against him and tried to pull away. Lifting a hand, he laid it against the back of Sam's head and gently pushed it down to his shoulder,

"Sam-"

"Why did you say that?" Sam interrupted, his voice slightly shaking as he finally gave in and allowed Dean to hold him, his right arm going up and around and clutching onto his big brother for dear life,

"Why did you say that about dad? I don't understand, Dean-"

"Forget I said those things, kiddo," Dean whispered back, pulling his brother in even closer until he was practically in his lap,

"Just forget I ever said them, alright?"

"Why, Dean?" Sam repeated, feeling himself start to shake as his tears flowed faster down his cheeks,

"Are you…mad at me?"

Mentally hitting himself for ever having opened his big mouth, Dean cursed to himself and finally released his brother, but kept his hands on Sam's upper arms and refused to let him break eye contact,

"I'm not mad at you, Sam. You didn't do anything to make me mad at you, got it? I was being an idiot, okay?" He waited until Sam nodded his head and was about to continue when his brother spoke up again.

"You said back at the hospital that dad didn't hate me, Dean," Sam's voice was so quiet Dean had to almost lean in to hear it,

"He does, doesn't he?"

"Sam, please, just forget about it-"

"Does he?" The younger brother pressed.

"He's angry and he's an ass, Sam; but he doesn't hate you, okay?" Dean refused to believe the alternative. His father never outright told him that he "hated" Sammy, but from every conversation he had had with John in the hospital and over the phone after he had hightailed it out of there and away from them, there had been nothing but anger and annoyance in his voice. But hate? Even if it did cross Dean's mind, and he admitted that he sometimes did think it, there was no way he would ever tell Sam that. But then again, he had never planned on opening his mouth and ranting over his rage towards their father either, thus causing him to hurt his little brother; and that was exactly what he had done,

"I'm so sorry for all that, kiddo-"

"I'm not mad at you, Dean," Sam looked straight into his brother's green eyes as he felt Dean squeeze his arms,

"I'm not. But it's all my fault-"

"No, it's not," Dean interrupted, giving his brother a slight shake,

"None of it is. Okay?" He could see the doubt shining in his little brother's eyes,

"I promise."

"Alright," Sam finally replied with a light sigh and a nod of his head,

"Alright, Dean…"

"Thata boy," Dean attempted a weak smile, his heart heavy with guilt and anger towards John, but he pushed some of it down as he reached over and pulled his baby brother back into his arms and was relieved when Sam didn't even hesitate to hug him back this time. Placing his hand on the back of his brother's head again, Dean spoke softly into Sam's ear,

"Everything will be alright, Sammy."

0000

"You said it was important; I'm assuming this has to do with some sort of hunt for the demon that killed your wife, am I right?"

John folded his hands over the bottle of beer that was sitting in front of him on the table and looked around the nearly deserted bar he was sitting in, all the way in the back, making sure nobody was nearby and, more importantly, nobody was eavesdropping on the conversation he was about to have. Clearing his throat, the older man then took a sip of his drink before pushing it aside and facing the man who was sitting across from him,

"Surprisingly, not this time, Gordon." Looking back over his shoulder one more time, John turned and looked the younger man straight in the eye,

"It's regarding my son, actually."

"Your son?" Gordon Walker arched an eyebrow and took a sip of his own beer before leaning far back into his own chair,

"Well, by all means, John. Let's hear it."

"It's tragic, really, Gordon," John began with a shake of his head as he too leaned back into his chair,

"You know all about the Yellow-Eyed demon who killed my wife, Mary, don't you?" At Gordon's nod, John went on,

"I'll just cut right to the chase here. Turns out, I found out some things in the past couple of months regarding my youngest son, Sam. Some things that are dangerous and that he and his brother, Dean, don't even know about. While on a hunt a few months ago, I was really close to finding that son of a bitch demon, but instead, I found out that my son is destined to bring on the Apocalypse; he's also been cursed with demon blood the night Mary was killed."

"And you need for me to kill him, am I correct?"

"That's correct," The older Winchester replied with a nod of his head, forcing back any small amount of guilt he was feeling at that moment. There was no time to feel guilty about this; it wasn't like he wanted to have this done, but he had no other choice. And considering that his boys refused to listen to him, and worse, that Sam was unable to hunt anymore, he had to take matters into his own hands,

"But things get worse then that, I'm afraid, Gordon. The boys and I were in a car accident just a few weeks ago and now Sam is permanently paralyzed from the waist down, so he's unable to hunt anymore; and Dean has chosen to abandon the hunt to stay with his brother. They're currently staying with an old family friend, so it's not going to be easy; his brother is one protective son of a bitch and he won't allow anyone-myself included-to get close to Sam these days without him close by. I've been trying to get Dean to put him into a group home, get back into the hunt for his mother's killer, but he won't have none of it."

"What else should I know?" Gordon Walker asked calmly, listening intently to the words being spoken. He normally wouldn't go and hunt and kill a human being, but from what John Winchester was telling him, his son wasn't human. He hadn't been human since he was a baby and this whole situation had to be taken care of as soon as possible. Sam was a monster, that's all there was to it.

With a heavy sigh, John Winchester's face changed to one of total anger as he recalled the last couple of weeks…more importantly, what had happened right before the accident,

"The accident was Sam's fault, Gordon. We had the Yellow-Eyed demon; it was right there and Sam was more then capable of killing it if he wanted to. It was possessing me, but he refused, claiming he didn't kill it because my life was more important." The older man scoffed at the memory,

"If you want my opinion, he was just doing it selfishly; for his own gain. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I start to wonder whether or not Sam even wanted the demon dead to begin with…he could have been working for that yellow-eyed son of a bitch for all we know. All I know is that I never knew my son…hell, I don't even consider him my son anymore, if you get my drift."

"I hear you, John," Gordon replied, pity clearly heard in his voice.

"No need to pity me, Walker," John waved his hand in the air and rolled his eyes,

"Just get the job done." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to the other man,

"I've heard great things about you; you're well known around these parts. You're a fantastic hunter, so I trust that you'll take care of this problem. That's the current address the boys are staying at," He met Gordon's eyes, his own dark eyes flashing sparks,

"Just be careful and if you have to take your time in order to get it done right, then so be it."

0000

No matter how hard he tried that night, Dean couldn't get what had happened earlier that day with his little brother out of his mind. What the hell had he been thinking? He had told himself from the start that no matter what happened, he wouldn't let out his steam towards John in front of Sam; he wouldn't tell him how John heartlessly blamed his own son for an accident and for not killing the demon when he had the chance.

But what had he done? He had said those very things, words that he wished more then anything that he could take back.

But unfortunately, that wasn't possible, and it made Dean sick to his stomach as he looked up at the ceiling in Bobby's library.

The added on bedroom and bathroom were still being worked on, so the two brothers had once again taken to sleeping in the pull-out beds Bobby had managed to arrange in there some weeks ago. It wasn't the most comfortable place to get some shut-eye, but it was better then some shitty motel room…or some hospital.

Glancing at the clock across the room and seeing that it was just past 3 in the morning, Dean sighed and rolled his eyes. He was beyond exhausted, it had been one hell of a day and yet, he still was unable to get any sleep. Closing his eyes, Dean let out a long sigh and attempted once more to allow sleep to take a hold of him.

Before he could allow sleep to claim him, however, the older Winchester heard a loud thumping noise coming from the bed right beside him and as he snapped his green eyes open, Dean shot straight up in bed and looked over at Sam's bed.

His empty bed.

Throwing the covers back, Dean rose to his feet and hurried around to the other side and his heart nearly stopped as he saw his little brother now sprawled out on the floor, hazel eyes wide open and a look of terror etched across his face. Not wasting another minute, the older brother hurried to Sam's side and knelt down beside him, wrapping his arm across his back and gently helped to push him back up to a sitting position,

"Sammy? You okay there, buddy?"

"Dean…" Sam gasped for breath and reached up to rub his eyes,

"Dean…?"

"Yeah, I'm here," The older brother frowned,

"Are you okay, Sam?"

"I-I don't know," The younger Winchester shook his head, the fear still present on his face.

"What the hell happened?" Dean demanded, still kneeling beside him. He would attempt to get his brother back into bed in just a moment, but for now…

"Sammy? Hey." He wrapped his arm tightly around his brother's now trembling shoulders and turned him slightly to face him directly,

"Sam?"

"It was just a dream…I think," Sam tiredly attempted to reply, rubbing his eyes again,

"Where are we?"

Dean's frowned deepened as he moved to get more comfortable on Bobby's floor,

"We're at Bobby's, Sam. Don't you remember?"

"Bobby's?"

"Yes," Dean nodded, starting to grow more and more concerned by the second,

"We've been here for a while, Sam. We're in Bobby's library."

"Okay," Sam let out a shaky sigh and nodded his head,

"Okay." He looked directly into Dean's eyes,

"So the dream wasn't real then…"

"What dream, Sammy?" Dean cautiously questioned, his arm tightening around his baby brother,

"Can you tell me what it was?" When Sam didn't answer, Dean's stomach twisted in knots,

_Please not a vision. Please don't let it be a vision. _

Thankfully, his little brother hadn't had one of those god-awful painful visions since the car accident that changed their lives forever; he didn't know how in the world he would ever explain those to Sam if he did have one. But now? This had to have been one hell of a dream if it had caused his paralyzed brother to fall out of bed and onto the floor.

"I don't understand it, Dean," The younger brother's brow furrowed in confusion. The whole dream didn't make much sense to him; really, the only thing that did make some sense was that he wasn't with Dean or Bobby and that scared him,

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize, Sam; it's alright," Dean reassured as he moved his arm around Sam's back and placed the other underneath Sam's motionless legs, getting ready to lift him off the floor. Moving Sam's right arm around his neck for support, he tightened his grip and smiled slightly,

"Lets get you back into bed, okay?" At Sam's nod, Dean bit his lip and with all the strength a big brother could muster, it only took a few seconds for him to gently deposit his brother back into the bed and get him tucked back in,

"There we go, Sam."

"Thanks, Dean," Sam whispered back, watching as Dean took a seat beside him,

"You're…not leaving, right?"

"Definitely not," Dean replied, his heart filling with sadness all over again,

"Just try and get some sleep, alright?" At Sam's sleepy nod, Dean watched as it only took another few minutes before his brother's chest started rising up and down and soft snores were escaping him. His concern for his little brother's safety now taking a hold of him all over again, Dean moved until he was sitting in the empty space on Sam's bed big enough for him, his back pressing up against the wall. Sleep be damned,

"I'm not going anywhere."

0000

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"There's one thing I don't get, John," Gordon Walker was saying over an hour later before he took another swig of his beer and leaned back in his chair, eyebrow arched in question,

"How come you waited this long before finally coming to this realization that this monster, your son…whatever you want to call it, had to be put down? When did you first find out about this? He's dangerous to this world and you knew it-"

"It's not like that, Walker," The oldest Winchester narrowed his eyes and glanced over his shoulder, double-checking once more that he wasn't being overheard,

"I found out almost a year before Dean got Sam from Stanford; I've known about this for some time, but it wasn't possible to take him down just yet."

"I don't get that," Gordon shook his head in confusion,

"You're a hunter. You see a monster, you hunt it, take it down; that's our job."

"Yes, it is; but Sam also has an older brother who will go to the ends of the earth to protect him," John glared across the table at his fellow hunter,

"It ain't that easy, Gordon; the time had to be right…and now that this has happened, the time is perfect." He let out a long sigh and looked straight into Gordon's eyes,

"Sam is more vulnerable now; he's got the mind of a child and there's lots of things he doesn't remember, which makes him much easier to manipulate. This accident left it so that all demons can get their claws in him, no matter what. It's for the greater good we're doing this, I hope you're not backing out on me now-"

"I'm the last person who would back out on a hunt, John Winchester," Gordon frowned over at him before slamming his nearly empty beer bottle down, causing the table to shake,

"I just want to make sure YOU won't back out at the last minute in an attempt to save the devil's sorry ass…You did say he's destined to be the devil's vessel, am I correct?"

"That's right," John lowered his head and shook it, ignoring the small twinge of guilt churning in his gut. This was all for the greater good; Dean would have no choice but to see that once this was all taken care of an finished. He would have to see that his brother was born cursed, that he became a monster the night Mary died. Because of Dean didn't see it, if his oldest son attempted to protect his brother like always, then the oldest Winchester would have no other choice in the matter then to take Dean down too,

"So be careful, Walker. I don't want to be disappointed…I don't want to have to be the one to kill you because you failed at this," He lowered his voice even more,

"Because I will and I'll take care of the problem myself."

Gordon crossed his arms over his chest and lifted both eyebrows,

"Even though this is your son? You're absolutely certain? Because there's no going back once this is complete, Johnny boy-"

"It's not my son anymore, Walker; I already told you that," John snapped heatedly,

"This is the monster that wants to put an end to the world. It must be stopped."

"Very well," Gordon nodded his head and finished off the last of his beer before pulling out a couple of dollars out of his pocket and lifted them up for John to see. A smirk shined on his face as a waitress in a halter-top walked by,

"It's on me, Johnny." He smiled brightly at the waitress and placed the money on the tray she was carrying,

"Thanks, sweetheart." As she disappeared around a corner, Gordon leaned forward even more in his chair and looked straight into John's eyes,

"This will be done, John. You have my word; and when I give you my word, I never, ever break it."

0000

Dean had barely fallen asleep, his back pressed up against the wall and his brother right beside him, when his eyes flew open as a scream pierced through the air, loud enough to wake the dead. Running a hand through his hair and down his face, Dean blinked his eyes quickly and looked down in time to see his little brother's large hazel eyes fly open and if it wasn't for the older Winchester's waiting hands, Sam would have fallen out of the bed once again,

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" He soothed as he grasped his brother's trembling shoulders and helped pull him up into a sitting position,

"Easy, Sammy-"

"Dean!"

Before Dean could speak any further, he found Sam's long arms thrown around his neck and clinging to him as tightly as possible. His concern deepening as his own arms wound tightly around Sam in return, Dean frowned as he felt the trembles go through his little brother's entire body. Resting his chin on top of Sam's head as the kid buried his face deep into his shoulder, Dean whispered soothingly,

"I'm here, kiddo; I'm right here-"

"Dean…" Some of the trembles started to stop, but the younger Winchester's voice was shaking as he spoke,

"I'm scared…"

"What are you scared of, Sammy?" Dean gently asked. The last thing he wanted to do was push Sam into remembering this dream, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder yet again whether or not this was some vision. But even if it was, how in the world was he supposed to explain that to Sam without scaring him?

"There's something…something…" Sam closed his hazel eyes tightly as he tightened his arms around his brother's neck, flinching only slightly at the pain in his broken left arm at the movement,

"I don't know…"

"Just calm down for a moment, Sam; it'll come to you," Dean tried to reassure as gently and carefully as possible,

"Was it the same nightmare?" As he felt his brother flinch at the question, Dean frowned but continued holding Sam tightly to him,

"Do you remember what it was this time?"

"I saw…I saw someone die, Dean," Sam whispered into his big brother's shoulder. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest and he found his voice starting to shake even more as he continued speaking,

"I-I was there…I saw them die…I was there, Dean; but you weren't…"

"Where was I, Sam?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know who was dying in your dream, little brother?" Dean continued pushing. Heaven help him, this scaring him more and more as the seconds ticked by; it was starting to look more like a vision, that's all there was to it,

"Sam?" He carefully pulled back from his brother's tight hold, but kept a firm grip on Sam's upper arms,

"Sam? Talk to me, Sam."

"I don't know who he was," Sam replied with a shake of his head. It was so weird; he didn't remember ever having these types of nightmares before and they scared him so much. These last couple of hours since he had went to bed, he had had two dreams that had felt so real, like he was there…but he couldn't make out who was dying. All he knew was that Dean wasn't there with him and that scared him more then anything,

"I didn't…I just saw him die…" A frown formed on his face,

"I don't understand it, Dean…"

"It's okay, Sam," Dean nodded and forced a smile on his face, despite how the fear that he was really feeling,

"We'll figure it out, alright?"

"It felt so real, Dean," The younger brother continued as if Dean hadn't spoken,

"Like I was there, too."

"Don't think too hard about it, Sammy-"

"Why?" Sam interrupted, his frown deepening.

"Because I said so, that's why," The older Winchester gently admonished, squeezing Sam's arms as he met his brother's large, puppy dog hazel eyes,

"Trust me, Sam; you don't want to know this."

"What if…"

"What if what?" Dean knew this had to be killing his baby brother, seeing these visions and not knowing what in the world they were; but God help him, all he wanted was for Sam to forget about them, to not worry about them, to forget they ever existed and to just sum it up as one horrible nightmare that was all too real.

"What if…I was the one dying?"

"It wasn't," Dean firmly interjected, giving his brother a slight shake.

"But what if it was?"

Feeling like he was going to throw up at that very question, Dean shoved down the feeling of nausea and instead looked Sam straight in the eye and forced himself to speak as sternly as possible without scaring his brother,

"If it was, then I would protect you, alright? Because nobody will ever hurt you as long as I'm around. No demon, no monsters, not even dad…even though he's long gone…" He grumbled the last part under his breath, but kept his firm gaze on Sam,

"You understand me here, Sam? Nobody."

"Okay."

"Okay? That's it?"

"Okay." Sam repeated with a jerky nod of his head. This dream was still scaring him, especially the not knowing part; but if his big brother told him he would be okay, that he wasn't dreaming about himself, then he believed him.

0000

"What the hell, Dean?" Bobby stared at the older Winchester the next morning in shock as he paced back and forth in his kitchen, making sure to keep his voice down from where Sam was right in the other room, keeping himself busy with painting the walls of the added-on bedroom,

"What do you mean those visions are back?"

"Exactly what I said, Bobby," Dean threw his hands in the air and stopped pacing long enough to look his friend in the eyes,

"It happened twice last night, once he even fell out of bed…"

"Balls!" The older, gruff hunter slammed his hand down on the kitchen counter and shook his head in frustration.

"Pretty much."

"Well, did you find out what the vision was?"

With a shake of his head, Dean folded his arms over his chest and sighed quietly,

"Not really. He was pretty scared, though."

"Of course he would be scared, you idjit," Bobby grumbled before opening the door of the refrigerator and retrieving two beers, one of which he handed to Dean,

"Imagine being in that boys' shoes, not remembering some important details of your life or the fact that he used to have those types of visions regularly...That's not something you can just come right out and tell him without scaring him even more."

"Right," Dean grumbled as he took a small swig of the beer Bobby offered him,

"Which is why I told him to trust me and forget about it because he didn't want to know what it meant." He watched as the older hunter arched an eyebrow,

"I had no other choice, Bobby…"

"I didn't say anything, Dean," Bobby sighed and ran a hand down his face and through his beard,

"What else did he ask? Because I'm assuming he was trying to ask some types of questions…"

"He wanted to know what if the person he saw die was himself."

"Balls!" Bobby repeated, almost slamming his hand down on the counter again, but stopping himself just in time.

"I'm sure it wasn't him, Bobby," Dean assured, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible,

"There was no way he could have seen his own death by Yellow-Eyes. I mean, really, Bobby, Sammy didn't even know who he saw die. You would think that even in his condition, he would be able to tell if it was himself, right?"

"Right," The older man repeated with a nod,

"But maybe…"

"I'm not letting that son of a bitch get to my little brother, Bobby; forget it."

"Let me finish, you moron," Bobby snapped back,

"Maybe you should eventually tell him he was having visions. That way he would at least know what they were…"

"It would scare him shitless, Bobby!" Dean snapped right back, glaring angrily at his friend,

"He's scared enough as it is-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. It was just a thought, Dean," Bobby held his hands up in surrender,

"I'm just trying to think of some way to get that boy through this with as little pain as possible…"

"He's already in enough pain, Bobby; if I told him about the visions, it would only cause him even more."

0000

John Winchester put his large truck into park on the gravel road several days later, keeping himself at a safe enough distance so that he wasn't noticed by his sons or Bobby, but also close enough so that he could see them. Grabbing the binoculars he had stashed under his seat, the oldest Winchester placed them up to his eyes and zoomed into the library, where he was clearly able to make out both Sam and Dean, as well as his former friend Bobby Singer who was right behind his large desk.

Knowing it was now or never, John retrieved his cell phone from his jacket pocket and hit Bobby's main line number, listening in as the phone rang endlessly on the other end. A smirk formed on his face when the familiar, gruff voice answered.

"Singer."

John forced himself to remain as calm and cool, as well as apologetic as possible as he smiled and replied,

"Hey, Bobby. John Winchester." He clearly was able to make out the sharp intake of breath coming from the other end of the line and although John couldn't see him from where he knew he was standing in the kitchen, the oldest Winchester knew he was cringing and silently cursing to himself,

"How are my boys doing?"

"You call here after weeks and weeks of ignoring them, ignoring Sam, and you want to know how they're doing?" Bobby finally snapped heatedly,

"What kind of idjit do you take me for, you moron?"

Forcing himself once again to remain calm, as he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he lost his cool, he would never be able to talk to Sam or Dean,

"You're angry with me, I understand that-"

Huffing loudly on the other end of the line, Bobby yelled into John's ear,

"Angry? Angry? You son of a bitch really have no idea what you've done, do you?" With a snort, he continued,

"You go and pretend like your youngest son doesn't even exist, like he's a burden to you. You try and force him into some God-forsaken group home. You constantly blame Sam AND Dean for trying to save your life…and yet you call here, out of the blue, asking how they're doing?"

"I'm sorry about that, Bobby; it's not what I had intended, you need to know that."

"Come again?"

"I can't apologize for believing that Mary's death needs to be avenged, Bobby, but I never should have treated the boys like I did," John grit his teeth as he spoke, the phone pressed tightly to his ear with one hand while the other held the binoculars, keeping a close watch on his sons,

"Would you believe me if I told you I was wrong to try and get Sammy into a group home?"

"Cristo."

"I'm not possessed, Bobby," John shook his head with a roll of his eyes,

"This is really me. I was just…I was angry over losing that demon and I took it out on Sammy and Dean. I shouldn't have done that, I swear on Mary's grave." He waited as Bobby fell silent for a few long moments before continuing,

"I'd like to speak to Dean. I would have called his cell, but he's been so pissed at me, I know he wouldn't answer even if I tried…"

"Damn right he wouldn't."

A tense silence fell between the two hunters before John spoke up once again,

"I'd like to talk with my son, Bobby."

Bobby frowned as he took in the seriousness and apologetic tone in John's voice. If there was one thing he was never expecting, it was to get this type of phone call from his former friend. After all, the last time Sam and Dean had seen or spoken to the man, he had walked out on them, blaming Sam for his current condition, for the accident and for everything in between…all the while, trying to convince Dean to abandon his little brother. But that was weeks ago, and Bobby had told the older brother he would allow John to speak to Sam if John had appeared sincere.

And he appeared more then sincere at this moment.

But then again, would Dean even want to speak to his father? There was only one way to tell.

"Just…let me see if that idjit even wants to speak to your ugly face," Bobby growled under his breath, shaking his head as he carried the phone into the library with him. He knew the expression on his face was one of worry when Dean looked him straight in the eye.

"Bobby?"

Holding out the phone to him, Bobby drew in a long breath and let it out slowly, getting ready for his head to be ripped off,

"It's your daddy. He wants to talk with you-"

"…the hell-"

"Dean, remember I told you if he sounded sincere-"

"I don't give a rat's ass if he sounds sincere or not, Bobby!" Dean snapped, not caring if his father could hear him yelling on the other end of the line,

"He's not talking to Sam-"

"He wants to talk with YOU, you idjit!" The older hunter interrupted, pushing the phone into Dean's hand,

"He's not possessed, I promise you that." He rolled his eyes to the ceiling,

"Just talk with him. He might surprise you…"

Glancing at his little brother, who had remained silent, Dean watched as Sam's large hazel eyes widened in shock and hope. With a forced smile, the older brother laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and squeezed before meeting Bobby's eyes,

"Stay with him."

"Duh."

Not bothering to reply, Dean placed the phone up to his ear and moved into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. As soon as it was quiet, the older brother finally spoke,

"What the hell, dad?"

"Hey, Dean," John spoke as gently as he was capable of at the moment, feeling a surge of joy flow through him now that he was finally speaking to his oldest once again, even though he knew he was downright deceiving him. Honestly, he really didn't care about that; all he cared about at the moment was making sure both his sons and Bobby got back on his good side.

After all, if they were finally on his good side again, he would be the last person they would expect to commit the act that was about to be committed.

But who could blame him? Gordon Walker had a job to do.

And that job was to take Sam out, monster that he was, like it or not. It was something that had to be done and if Dean found out he had hired Gordon…John's head would be on a platter before he knew it and he couldn't have that. He would play the part of the caring, sympathetic father again, even if he didn't want to; it was for the greater good, and the greater good involved Sam Winchester being eliminated.

That is, only if Gordon Walker succeeded. If he didn't…well, then on with Plan B, and John Winchester already had that plan. Sam was going to die one way or the other, whether Gordon was able to take him out or not.

0000

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"What the hell do you want, dad?"

John Winchester smirked from where he was still seated in the driver's seat of his truck and lowered the binoculars to turn to the passenger seat and meet Gordon's eyes. With a quick nod of his head, he brought the binoculars back up to his eyes and turned his attention back to his eldest,

"I just wanta talk to you for a few minutes, son-"

"I have nothing to say to you," Dean snapped in his ear and for a brief moment, John almost thought his son was about to hang up on him before he continued,

"You've said enough already-"

"I owe you and Sammy an apology, Dean," John interrupted quickly, cringing slightly as the words escaped his mouth,

"You didn't deserve-"

"An apology?" Dean snorted loudly, all the while rolling his eyes as he paced back and forth in Bobby's kitchen, the phone pressed up against his ear,

"I think you owe us more then that, dad. You seriously think you can just call us up after weeks of ignoring us and blaming Sam, and just act like you can be forgiven? What the hell do you take us for?"

"Dean," The oldest Winchester forced himself to remain calm as he lowered the binoculars once more and leaned back in his seat,

"I don't expect you to forgive me, much less want to see me. But I'm calling because…because I was wrong, son; I was wrong to pin the blame for this accident on your brother and, well, I was hoping you would consider allowing me to see Sammy."

"Excuse me?" The older brother arched both eyebrows and stopped his pacing for a moment. If there was anything he saw coming when he had took the call from his father, it was by far an apology; if anything, he was expecting to hear John rant and rave in his ear once again about joining him in the hunt,

"You might want to repeat that, dad, because I don't think I heard you correctly."

"I was wrong, Dean," John repeated, closing his dark eyes briefly before opening them again and meeting Gordon's eyes silently with a shake of his head. He knew his eldest was going to be pissed at him, but he didn't think this conversation was going to go this route. He didn't think that Dean would sound this way, despite the fight they had had the last time they had talked. Shoving down his rage that was building up inside of him, the older man continued,

"Believe it or not, I can admit to my mistakes, son. And this was one I truly regret…and I would love to see your brother and tell him that face to face."

"Tell him WHAT, exactly, dad?" Dean demanded, pressing the phone in between his shoulder and ear as he folded his arms and leaned up against the counter,

"Do you have any fuckin' clue how much you hurt him, dad?"

"Of course I do," John quietly replied in his ear,

"I'm not asking either of you to forgive me or forget what I said and did. I'm just asking you to give me another chance here. I'm asking as your father, Dean…"

Silence filled the other end of the line, except for the unmistakable sound of Dean breathing.

"Dean? Are you still there?"

"I'm here."

John held his breath, silently waiting it out before Dean finally spoke again.

"The only way I'll allow you to see or be near Sammy, dad, is if I'm in the room with him," He tersely ordered, his voice holding no room for argument,

"I'm not leaving his side, are we clear on that?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," John replied, his voice still quiet in his son's ear,

"I know you don't trust me. But I'm hoping I can earn that trust back, son…"

"We'll see," Dean snapped before sighing loudly,

"Call my phone when you're near, that way I know when to expect you." He was about to hang up on his father before continuing,

"Oh and one more thing. If you so much as say or do anything that causes Sam any type of emotional pain, your ass is out of here and I won't be giving you any more chances, you hear me?"

"Of course," John nodded his head and before he could continue, the next thing he heard in his ear was the sound of the phone clicking off and the familiar buzzing on the other end,

"Well, that went well." He huffed as he shoved his phone back into his jacket pocket and turned back to Gordon.

"But he agreed, though, right?" The other man questioned as he leaned back in the passenger seat and looked straight into John's eyes,

"That's a start. Now you just need to regain his trust."

"Which makes things a lot more difficult then I had intended," John frowned in concentration as he turned his truck back on and quietly pulled out of the lot, all the while making sure he wasn't seen or heard. As he finally pulled back out onto the main road, he continued seriously,

"He won't let me even be alone with Sam, just the two of us; that's how protective that brother of his is."

"Then you'll force him to allow you."

"It's not going to be that simple, Walker," John shook his head as he drove faster down the road,

"I'm going to have to play the protective father here, Gordon, if I want Dean and Bobby's trust; so you cannot fail in this." He sighed in annoyance before pulling the truck over onto the side of the road and cutting the engine once again,

"They cannot know I'm a part of this. You know what will happen if you fail, right?" Before Gordon Walker could reply, John continued, his eyes narrowing into a deadly glare,

"If you get caught or arrested, or get yourself killed, I'm taking Sam out myself. It's much better if neither Dean or Bobby know I'm involved; I'm just going to be out of their lives once Sam is taken care of." He turned his gaze away from the other hunter and tightened his grip around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white,

"So you can't fail me with this. Because once the time comes when you finally take care of that…that monster…" He spit out the word with disgust,

"…I'm going to be nearby and watching and if I find out that you're failing at the job, I'm going to have to be the one to play Sam and Dean's protective father and take YOU out. Now, I'm sure you don't want that now, do you?"

"I won't fail you," Gordon promised without so much of a flinch. Instead, his mouth turned slightly upwards into a smirk,

"I swear. I never fail when it comes to monsters such as this."

"Good."

With a final nod of his head, John turned the truck back on and pulled back out onto the road, more satisfied then ever now.

0000

Dean's emotions were mixed up by the time he hung up the phone and stormed back into Bobby's library; sweat furrowed on his brow and he felt himself trembling uncontrollably as he met Sam's large eyes and then Bobby's confused gaze.

"What the hell was that all about, Dean?" Bobby spoke first, not moving from where he was standing protectively by Sam's side.

"He sounded…different, Bobby," Dean finally replied, unsure how he was supposed to answer this question when he was as confused as ever,

"Apologetic even. He wanted to see us."

"What'd you say to him, boy?" The older hunter demanded with an arched eyebrow, his eyes following his friend as he shook his head hard and started to move out of the room towards the now-completed added-on bedroom,

"Dean!" Grabbing the handles of Sam's wheelchair, Bobby pushed him forwards towards the bedroom and stopped in the doorway,

"Dean? What happened?"

"He was apologizing for everything he did and said since the accident," The older brother grumbled as he slumped down in a nearby chair.

"That's good news, isn't it?" Bobby asked, confusion laced in his voice.

"Yeah, but…why?"

"Why what?"

"Why was he suddenly being nice?" Dean continued grumbling, running his hands through his hair nervously.

"Does it matter why?" Bobby demanded, shooting a look down at Sam and unable to read the look on the younger boy's face,

"He's finally pulling his head out of his ass and doing what he should've done weeks ago! What did you tell him?"

With a loud snort, Dean rolled his green eyes to the ceiling before turning to meet his little brother's eyes,

"He wanted to see you, Sammy, and apologize in person…I allowed it on one condition. I'm not leaving the room when he's here and if he so much as hurts you in any way, his ass will be out that door in two seconds flat and he won't ever see you again. I guarantee it." With a long, drawn-out sigh, the older brother watched as Sam's hazel eyes widened even more,

"You okay, Sammy?"

"Dad wants to see me?" Sam finally spoke up, shock flowing through him, but also excitement over this change of attitude his father suddenly had.

"He does, kiddo; but I don't trust him yet and he's going to have to earn that trust back. Which also means that if you're uncomfortable around him, you let me and Bobby know and I won't even hesitate to throw him out." His eyes never left his brother's,

"I'm serious, Sam."

"When will he be here?" Sam questioned, wincing suddenly as a sharp pain sliced through his head. Before he could ask the next question on the tip of his tongue, another razor-like sharp pain shot through his forehead and he let out a loud cry,

"Dean!"

Dean's eyes widened in shock as Sam's right hand shot up to his forehead and before he or Bobby knew what was happening, the younger Winchester was leaning too far out of his wheelchair. Just as Dean was on his feet and racing towards his little brother, Bobby had grabbed the younger brother gently and was easing him back, all the while kneeling on the floor beside him.

"Sammy?"

"Dean!" Sam's cries turned to harsh gasps and his face was contorted in pain,

"It…hurts…"

Pushing Bobby out of the way, the older Winchester knelt down in front of his baby brother and grasped both of his shoulders, horror filling him as Sam's eyes began to roll back into his head,

"Sam? Sam! Sammy!" He shouted, giving his brother a rough shake to snap him out of it,

"Sam! Answer me, damnit!"

Those few minutes felt like days before Sam finally came to and, although his large, hazel eyes were now filled with tears, they were meeting Dean's steadily,

"Dean…" Terror was clearly evident in his voice as his shoulders shook beneath Dean's gentle hands.

"My God, don't ever do that to me again," Dean kept his hands were they were and gave his baby brother one more shake, although more gently this time,

"What the hell was that, Sam? I thought you…I don't know what the hell that was…"

"Dean…I'm scared…"

"Scared of what, kid?" Bobby piped up, once more kneeling on Sam's other side,

"Sam-"

"I…I…" The youngest Winchester stuttered, unable to get the correct words out. This was scaring him to no end. He didn't understand how this was happening, but if he remembered correctly, this was very similar to those nightmares he had been experiencing the last couple of nights...only this time, it was happening while he was awake and this time, it was clearer…and scarier,

"I saw…"

"What did you see, Sammy?" Dean gently pressed, reaching out to cup his brother's face in his hands,

"Tell me."

"I saw an older man…a tall, black man…he was smiling, like he was happy about something…" Sam began quietly, lifting his uninjured hand up to grasp onto Dean's, who was still holding his face in between his hands,

"I don't know who he is…"

"That's okay, Sam. Go on," Dean nodded, continuing to prod his brother to continue, all the while not allowing himself to lose control of his own fear and emotions.

"I think I saw me…" Sam's brow furrowed in concentration before he flinched again when another sharp pain sliced through his forehead, but it wasn't as painful as before and he was still able to look into his big brother's eyes,

"Only I…I wasn't alive…"

"The hell does that mean, Sam?" Dean demanded, not moving from his position. Fear flowed through him once more as he pushed his brother to continue.

"You weren't with me; neither was Bobby or-or dad…It was just me and him," Sam's fear took a hold of him and he shook his head, his tears starting to flow freely down his cheeks and onto Dean's fingers,

"I think he killed me…"

"You don't recognize this guy at all, Sam?" Bobby laid a hand on his friend's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner…or as comforting as he could be,

"He didn't look familiar in any way?"

"No…I've never seen him before, Bobby," Sam turned slightly to look straight into his older friend's eyes and took as deep of breaths as possible,

"But Dean wasn't there…I was alone, I was dead-"

"That's not gonna happen, Sammy, I swear," The older Winchester interrupted, releasing his brother's face to fold him carefully into his arms,

"No son of a bitch will get to you, not as long as I'm around."

Burying his face into his big brother's shirt, Sam clenched his eyes shut before gripping Dean like a lifeline,

"What does this mean? Why am I seeing these things, Dean?" When Dean didn't reply, Sam pressed more,

"Please?"

"I'll tell you later, kiddo," Dean bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly for a moment. Lifting a hand, he laid it on the back of his little brother's head, pushing his face deeper into his shoulder. Sensing Bobby looking at him, the older brother opened his eyes and met Bobby's gaze,

"Okay. Okay…" Reluctantly releasing Sam from his grip, Dean cleared his throat and offered his brother a small smile for his benefit,

"You're looking pretty exhausted there, kiddo. Why don't you catch a little bit of shut eye for a moment?" When Sam nodded in agreement, Dean and Bobby moved to help the younger Winchester into his bed. Within just a matter of minutes, he was sound asleep, much to Dean's relief.

"I need to talk with you out in the hall," Bobby whispered, gesturing with his chin for Dean to follow him,

"He'll be fine for a few minutes."

With one final look at his sleeping brother, Dean moved Sam's wheelchair to the other side of the room before turning the light off and following his older friend out into the hall, all the while making sure the door wasn't shut all the way,

"We have to do something about these visions of his, Bobby-"

"Dean, listen to me," The gruff hunter interrupted, making sure he had the younger boy's full attention,

"We've got a serious problem here-"

"No shit, Sherlock!"

"Watch your mouth with me, you idjit," Bobby snapped, but made sure his voice was still low enough to not wake up Sam,

"You're gonna have to be the one to tell Sam about those visions and it's not gonna be pretty, Dean. But you're gonna have to tell him soon."

"Why?" Dean demanded. Yes, he knew he was going to have to tell Sammy about these visions, he told him as much. But soon? In a matter of hours or days soon? What the hell? If there was one thing Sam did not need right now, it was more pain,

"I'll tell him in a few days, Bobby-"

"No, you're gonna have to tell him when he wakes up, Dean," Bobby ordered sternly,

"He just had a vision of himself dying-"

"We don't know that for sure," The words were out of Dean's mouth before he could stop them. Deep in his gut, he knew that what Sam had just seen was real; his visions had never been wrong before, from everything from their old home in Lawrence, to Jessica, to Yellow-Eyes…Everything had been right on the money, so why was this any different? But on the other hand, Dean refused to think that the person he saw dying was himself…there was no way,

"He saw someone die, yes; but he also said he thinks it was him, he didn't know for certain-"

"I'm sure it was him, Dean, and you know it," Bobby shook his head, not wanting to tell Dean this, but there was no time,

"I also think I know which man Sam was talking about in that vision of his."

"Who?" Dean demanded, shooting a quick glance into his and Sam's room,

"Do you know the guy?"

"I'm not 100% sure, Dean, I could be wrong; there's lots of black hunters around these parts, you know that-"

"So then, who is it?" Dean pressed, growing impatient by the minute. If this man really was after his brother…Hell no!

"Gordon Walker," Bobby spit the name out like it was venom,

"He's the only hunter I know of who has a tendency to smile while he's killing someone or something; he's the most dangerous hunter I've ever laid eyes on and I wish to God I'll never see him again…"

"All Sammy said was that this was a tall, black guy who was smiling at him," Dean growled under his breath,

"That could be lots of people, Bobby-"

"As I said, I could be wrong, you idjit; but I don't think I am," Bobby sighed and rolled his eyes,

"Call it a gut instinct, boy, alright? We can't take any chances either way…"

"But why the hell would somebody be after Sam?" The younger man demanded, growing angrier by the second. The mere thought of someone going after his baby brother like this, some God-forsake hunter…There was no way in Hell they would even get anywhere near Sam, not as long as Dean had air in his lungs,

"Especially a hunter-"

"Yellow-Eyes, Dean," The older man interrupted somewhat impatiently,

"Sam's visions. I'm sure there's more, but from everything you've told me, about how that son of a bitch has plans for your brother and people like him…that would give any hunter the reason to go after him!" He fell silent for a moment,

"Which means, we should probably have your daddy get his ass over here as soon as possible; if there's anybody who can help us protect Sam from this bastard, it's him."

Dean closed his green eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. He hated to admit it, but it appeared that Bobby was right in that department; John was apologizing, he was admitting what a bastard he was and that was something, if anything…Plus, their father was not a killer and he had always protected his sons from anything and anyone, even though his parenting skills needed a hell of a lot of work.

"You're right," Dean reluctantly admitted,

"I'll call him."

0000

"Looks like things are going smoother then I had expected," John hung up his phone a couple hours later and smirked over at Gordon who was currently cleaning his guns on one of the motel beds,

"I'll let you know when it's time for you to step in and take care of the problem."

"That was your eldest son, Dean, on the phone?" Gordon didn't even bother to look up as he set his gun down beside him and picked up his riffle,

"That was quite a change of heart on his part, wasn't it, Johnny boy?"

"The sooner the better," John replied, his voice deadly. Walking around the room and packing up all of his mere belongings and placing them into his duffel, the older Winchester's dark, unforgiving eyes landed on the Colt which was right beside his bag. A smile formed on his face as he opened it, checking to make sure the one bullet was still present. Satisfied, he cleared his throat and handed it to Gordon, meeting his eyes,

"I'm trusting you with this. Don't let me down."

0000

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N- **I'm sorry for the wait on this, things are a tad on the hectic side for me lately and I'm still in the process of trying to get another job and I've just been really stressed out over some of the events that have been happening in my life lately, so trying to sit down and write wasn't exactly on my "to-do" list. But it is now; I ended up getting lost on my way to a job interview this morning, but the hiring manager was kind enough to allow me to reschedule so as far as that goes…I'll be fine. I hope this is worth the wait though! (I know, I know, a week isn't **THAT **long to wait for a chapter, but I hate when more then a week goes by and I haven't written anything) Enjoy…or enjoy as much as you can, especially w/ the way John's gonna be acting in future chapters. *evil cackle and hides far, far away*

**Chapter 9**

Dean let out a long, heavy sigh as he shut his cell phone for the second time in less then an hour and placed it in his pocket. A part of him was relieved that, with this new threat on his little brother's life, their father would be making his face known again to help them, but another part of him still didn't want John anywhere near Sam, especially in his condition. After all, the last time John Winchester had shown his ugly face in front of both him and Sam was back in the hospital, when he had refused to even say a word to his youngest son and was doing everything in his power to get Dean to dessert his brother.

So as much as the older Winchester brother knew that their father would be useful during this sudden turn of events, that didn't mean that Dean had forgiven him.

Far from it actually.

John was going to have to earn that trust back, just like he was going to have to earn his right to be beside Sammy without Dean present in the room. Whether that took days, weeks, months or even years, it didn't matter to Dean; all that mattered was his traumatized, injured little brother…and if John so much as said a word that would cause further hurt to Sam, his ass would be out that door before he even knew what had taken place.

Running a hand over his face and through his hair, Dean shook his head and turned back to the partially open doorway to his and Sam's room and watched as his brother shifted slightly in his sleep, a quiet moan escaping him. Frowning slightly, the older brother was at Sam's side in two strides and just as he took a seat beside him, the moans soon turned to heart-breaking whimpers.

"Goddamnit, not again!" Dean growled under his breath, starting to feel physically ill as he knew that once again, for the second time that day, Sam was going to be waking up from yet another vision. Placing a gentle but firm hand on his brother's shoulder and shaking, Dean attempted to wake him before this vision caused too much pain and agony,

"Wake up, Sam-"

Before he could even finish the sentence, Dean watched as Sam's wide, hazel eyes flew open and a loud gasp escaped him. Removing his hand for the time being, the older Winchester held his hands out in front of him, trying to appear as calming as possible for his brother's sake,

"It's okay, Sammy; you're okay-"

"No," Sam interrupted with a shake of his head. His entire body trembled violently as he attempted to sit straight up and his arms gave out from under him as he collapsed back onto the bed,

"Dean…"

"You're okay, kiddo," Dean tried to sound as reassuring as possible as he moved closer to help lift the kid into a sitting position on the bed,

"I gotcha." Once Sam was situated, Dean's frown deepened and his green eyes soon took on a look of fear as he watched his brother rub his forehead as if he was in pain,

"Sammy?"

"What's happening to me?" Sam mumbled under his breath, closing his eyes tightly to try and stop the shooting pain in his forehead. Would the pain ever end? And what was with all of these things he had been seeing lately, whether it be dreams or while he was awake? Rubbing his forehead once more, the younger brother painfully opened his eyes to look Dean in the eye.

"Another one?" Dean answered the question with a question of his own. He was in now way prepared to explain these visions to Sammy, he wasn't prepared for the look of shock and agony that was bound to appear on his little brother's face once he knew. But he couldn't lie to him; that was one thing he was vowing never to do, especially with Sam's current condition.

"I saw…Dean…" Sam was nearing hyperventilation by now as he tried to take in every single detail of…whatever it was he had just seen,

"I saw it…"

"What did you see, Sam?" Dean demanded, moving both hands until they were resting on the back of Sam's neck, feeling the perspiration and the dampness of his brother's hair against his fingers,

"Tell your big brother what is you saw and I'll fix it, okay?"

"You can't fix this, Dean; you can't," Sam felt his fragile heart break as he said those words which he knew would hurt his brother. But it was the truth; nothing could fix these nightmares and deep down, Dean knew that,

"I know that now…"

"What the hell do you mean I can't?" Dean demanded, giving his brother a slight shake, his eyes never leaving Sam's sad gaze,

"Of course I can-"

"No," The younger brother shook his head, lowering his eyes down to his hands and running his hand over the cast still encasing his left arm,

"Not this time, Dean-"

"Tell me what you mean by that." There was no room for argument in Dean's current tone and it only made Sam flinch. Silently cursing himself for causing that flinch, Dean moved his hands down to his brother's face and cupped his cheeks with gentleness only a big brother could provide,

"Sammy?"

"They won't go away, Dean," Sam's voice started shaking, even when he refused to meet Dean's eyes,

"None of them will go away-"

"Tell me what you saw, Sam."

"No."

"Sam!" Dean gave his little brother another shake and he mentally kicked himself when Sam finally lifted his gaze up to meet his eyes and saw the tears now shining in them,

"Sammy-"

"I saw you die, Dean! And Bobby!"

If there was anything Dean was unprepared for right then, it was this. Sam was now seeing him die? And Bobby? What the hell?

Forcing back the fear churning in his gut at this revelation, and trying to keep his own emotions under control, Dean tightened his grip on Sam's face and refused to let him turn away again,

"I'm not going anywhere, Sam. You know that."

"Yes you are," Sam was now sobbing openly as he spoke,

"You're going to die, you and Bobby are going to die, Dean…and I can't…I can't…" His shaking continued as he spoke through his tears,

"You can't stop these dreams, Dean; and I can't save you and Bobby…or even me…I'm going to die, too-"

"The hell you are, Sam!" Dean growled loudly before he pulled his sobbing little brother into his strong arms,

"I'm not dying. Bobby's not dying. And you're sure as hell not dying, not under my watch. I swear on mom's grave, Sammy; I won't let you down."

Sensing Sam's hesitance and fear as his shoulders continued shaking underneath his hands, and the way he was still shaking his head, Dean only tightened his arms around his brother and lifted a hand to rest it on the back of his head,

"Sam, there's something I need to tell you about regarding these dreams you're having, alright? It's something you forgot about after the accident…" Feeling his brother tense up, Dean bit his lower lip and continued quietly,

"This isn't how I wanted to bring this up to you, Sam; but I have to tell you because I won't lie to you."

A few minutes went by before Sam finally spoke, his voice more quiet, but still shaking,

"I don't know if I want to know it…I'm too scared to know it, Dean…"

"I know you are," Dean nodded in understanding,

"But I got you and I won't let anything happen to you." When Sam didn't say anything else, the older Winchester chose to cut right to the chase and went for it,

"These dreams you've been having aren't dreams and nightmares, Sammy. You've been having visions for well over a year now, long before the accident. They went from realistic dreams that came true to you seeing things in the middle of the day."

"Visions?" Sam repeated against his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah," The older brother sucked in a sharp breath. This was not how he wanted to do this; this was not the way he had planned on doing this,

"You had visions of people dying, Sammy-" Feeling his brother pulling away from him, Dean cursed himself all over again as he saw the terror present in his brother's large eyes,

"It's okay, Sam-"

"So you are going to die-"

"No! No, I'm not going to die, Sam!" Dean repeated, raising his voice slightly to attempt to get through to his frightened brother,

"Even when you had those visions before, we've been able to save people, Sammy; and that's what we're gonna do here. There's some bastard named Gordon Walker after you; Bobby told me he thinks he recognized that man from your last vision. Now that we know that this son of a bitch is around, we can take him out…and don't think for a second that I won't, because none of us are gonna die." Still seeing the doubt on Sam's face, Dean pressed on,

"I won't leave you alone in this god-forsaken world, Sammy. I won't. And neither will Bobby. This bastard is going down and dad is going to help us." He was silent for a few moments as he watched Sam slowly start to loosen up and some of the fear started to leave his eyes,

"Trust me, Sammy; I'm begging you here."

"I trust you." The reply came instantly and Dean was unable to stop the small smile from appearing on his face.

0000

"Remember what we talked about, Walker," John's voice was filled with seriousness and at the same time, malice,

"Give me a few days to earn Dean's trust; I'll keep you up to date by my cell." He swung his bag into the front seat of his larger-then-life truck and turned back to the fellow hunter,

"And that bullet that's left in the Colt…I don't want that used on anybody or anything besides Sam. No demons, no vampires, nothing. Are we clear on that?"

"No need to tell me twice, Johnny boy," Gordon Walker rolled his eyes from where he stood in the doorway of the motel room,

"But I never asked you this…That bullet was reserved for that Yellow-Eyed demon you've been after for over 20 years and now suddenly you want it on your son. Why the Colt, John?"

"Because Sam's just as bad as Yellow-Eyes, Gordon," The older man replied as he slammed the door of his truck,

"Maybe even worse…" A tinge of sadness was heard in his voice, but John shoved any feeling of remorse he might be feeling as far down as it would go. There was no time to feel remorse or pity for this monster who wore his son's face; Sam was not his son anymore. He never was his son ever since his Mary was killed in Sam's nursery. It was because of little Sammy Winchester that this whole mess started; it was because of little Sammy that Mary was killed and Dean now hated his guts. This monster had to be vanquished off the face of the earth, it was for the greater good,

"I'll go back to taking out the yellow-eyed son of a bitch after Sam is taken care of…and I'll figure out another way to take it down; this is more important."

"I never thought I would hear those words come out of John Winchester's mouth," Gordon chuckled, arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, well, it's something that must be done," John climbed into the truck and stuck his head out the window before he pulled out of the motel parking lot,

"Just make sure that bullet goes straight through Sam's heart. If you used a regular gun, he could heal and Dean would just patch him up. The Colt on the other hand-"

"-will kill anything and anyone," Gordon finished, his trademark smirk never leaving his face as John nodded in confirmation and pulled out of the parking lot, gravel flying this way and that as the truck disappeared down the road.

0000

Bobby groaned and rubbed his knuckles from where he had just thrown a hard, long-overdue punch into John Winchester's jaw and bit back the curses he wanted to throw right into the younger hunter's face. Ignoring the tight glare of annoyance thrown his way, the older man stepped in John's way, blocking the doorway to his house and held out a bottle of beer filled with holy water to him instead.

"Holy water? Really, Bobby?" John growled, shooting another glare at the man.

"Humor me, you ass," Bobby snapped, shoving the bottle into his hand,

"You're not stepping into this house until you drink that. And you're not going anywhere near those boys either until I know for certain you're not possessed."

Tilting his head back and letting the liquid burn down his throat, John sighed heavily and shoved the bottle back to Bobby,

"You going to knick me with silver, too-" His words were cut off when he felt another hard punch to his jaw,

"Fuck!" He cursed loudly, stumbling backwards on the front porch,

"The hell was that for, Singer?"

"For being an asshole of a father, that's why," The gruff hunter snapped, finally stepping aside and allowing John to pass, but never taking his eyes very far from the devil's traps he had secured to the entrance of his home,

"Do you seriously think you can just call out of the blue after having ignored Sam and Dean, and act like you can just apologize and things will be all good?" He didn't wait for John to answer before he glared daggers at the other man,

"Because I'm tellin' ya, there's only one fool in this house and it's not me or the boys! You've got a lot to make up for and not just with Dean; do you have any clue what you did to Sam?"

"I told Dean over the phone, Bobby, I wanted to make up for all of that shit," John replied, impatience leaking into his tone of voice,

"I don't expect either of them-or you for that matter-to trust me-"

"Good," Bobby snorted, the glare never leaving his face,

"Because you'd be an even bigger asshole if you assumed Dean or Sam would forgive you that easily. You're in luck Dean even agreed with me to give you a call back up to help protect Sam…" He lowered his voice slightly as they neared the added-on bedroom, noticing that the door was now shut all the way,

"Dean told you about Sam's visions about Gordon Walker, right?"

"He did," John confirmed, biting back the retort he wanted more then anything to fling at Bobby,

"I mean, yes, he told me about them before the accident and everything, but he also said Sammy hasn't had them since the accident. Not until recently, that is…"

"They're getting more and more violent, too," Bobby stopped in front of the closed door and turned hard eyes to John,

"As in, he's already had visions of himself dying; and if that wasn't enough, he's even seen Dean and myself biting the big one…and of course Gordon Walker was behind all of it." He met John's concerned gaze with a stern look,

"If you so much as say or do anything to cause Sam any emotional pain, Dean won't be the only one throwing that ass of yours out of my house. And if you so much as start harassing Dean anymore about leaving his brother to go back to hunting, that'll earn you another ass-kicking. So none of that bullshit, you idjit."

Not bothering to see if the younger hunter was even going to reply, Bobby opened the bedroom door and stepped inside, shutting the door in John's face before he could come in,

"Dean?" His eyes met the older Winchester brother's saddened green ones from where he was sitting beside a sleeping Sam on his bed,

"How's he doin'?"

"There haven't been any new visions since he saw me dying," Dean sighed, checking his brother's face to make sure there weren't any signs of troubled sleep,

"And that was a few hours ago. Thank God…the kid needs the sleep…"

"And so do you," Bobby pointed out with an arched eyebrow, forcing back the retort that was on his lips when he saw his friend roll his eyes to the ceiling,

"Stubborn, stupid idjits…"

"What is it, Bobby?" The younger man changed the subject, his eyes never leaving his brother's face.

"That daddy of yours is here; he's out in the hall," The older hunter spit out, waiting for Dean's snappy comeback,

"And before you ask, he's not possessed. I've already tested him."

"He's here already?" Dean grumbled quietly, his eyes narrowing into slits,

"Is he still apologizing?"

"He sure is," Bobby answered,

"But he also knows you don't trust him, but he's willing to work on that."

Snorting and rolling his eyes once more, Dean leaned his head back against the headboard of Sam's bed,

"Go ahead and send him in. Might as well get this over with."

"You're staying here with Sam, right?"

"Do I look that stupid to you?" Dean demanded, shooting an annoyed glare his friend's way, but was unable to hold back the tiny smile when Bobby glared right back at him,

"I'm not leaving Sam's side while dad's here; so if he has a problem with that, he can go to Hell."

Forcing himself not to laugh at the words coming out of Dean's mouth, Bobby chose to ignore them and turned back around to open the door again, letting John through,

"I'll be outside if you need anything." Leaving the door open, the older hunter walked away, a tense silence filling the air in the bedroom.

"Dean." John didn't know what it was he was supposed to say first, but as he met Dean's hard gaze and then Sam's sleeping form, he knew one thing. He had to be extremely careful, more careful then he had ever been before because if this went south, taking Sam down was going to be his responsibility…even if he had to take Dean down with him.

"Dad." The younger Winchester replied flatly, moving a hand to lay protectively on top of Sam's head,

"Wasn't expecting you that quickly."

"I never went that far, Dean," John replied in as much of a sincere voice as he could muster,

"How's your brother?"

"So you really do care after all, huh?" Dean sarcastically retorted, narrowing his eyes into slits,

"I guess you'll have to ask him that yourself when he wakes up, won't you?" He pinned his father with a hard glare,

"I'm surprised you even came, dad."

"Your brother's safety is important to me, too, Dean," The older man took a seat in the chair on Sam's other side,

"I acted like I couldn't care less; I acted like a heartless bastard and for that, I'm deeply sorry. If it makes you feel any better…I feel horribly guilty about what I said, this being Sammy's fault, the group home, everything-"

"Good." Dean snapped,

"You deserve to feel guilty."

"Dean, I'm trying here-"

"You know I'm not going to trust you that easily, dad," Dean interrupted with a scowl on his face,

"This is Sammy we're talking about here and I refuse to let you hurt him like that ever again, you hear me?"

"I hear you, Dean," John nodded his head, attempting a small smile towards his son,

"You boys didn't deserve how I acted-"

"No, we didn't."

"But I'm here now, Dean; I'm here and I'm going to help you out with this Gordon Walker character, or whoever it is that your brother's having these visions about." He waited as Dean's gaze softened somewhat, but his eyes remained narrowed at him,

"I'll prove to you, and to Sam, that you can trust me again."

"I hope so," Dean quietly replied as he felt movement underneath his hand and saw his baby brother start to stir some more,

"Because I'm only doing this for Sammy's sake; he's missed you something horrible and I refuse to let him down by making the mistake of trusting you."

0000

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_It happened so suddenly, Sam didn't have time to shout out Dean's or Bobby's name. One minute he was outside, just enjoying the fresh air while his big brother was just around the side of the house, when he felt himself being grabbed from behind and the feel of a cold object being pressed up against the back of his head._

_A gun._

_Before he could open his mouth to scream however, a hand clamped itself over his mouth, muffling the sounds he was trying to make. Fear shot through his entire body as he felt his wheelchair being moved backwards and away from Bobby's house. Never once did he see how had grabbed him, but an unfamiliar voice was soon whispering in his left ear,_

"_Not a word from you, Sam Winchester, or this gun will go off before you have time to even open you mouth. You understand me?" _

_Wanting his brother more then anything right at the moment, Sam shakily nodded his head, even as the hand stayed clamped over his mouth._

"_Thata boy." The male voice spoke as he continued to pull the younger Winchester's wheelchair backwards,_

"_Let's take this nice and easy, we don't want that big brother of yours or that uncle to come barging in on us, now do we?"_

_Sam felt his heart pounding loudly in his ears at the words being spoken. Where was Dean? He needed Dean…and Bobby and his father. If only he could let out a scream and alert them…but if he screamed, this man would shoot him. Feeling sweat forming on his brow, Sam reached a trembling hand up and attempted to pull this man's hand away from his mouth and when that didn't work, he chose the next option and bit down hard right on the hand trapping him._

"_Son of a bitch!" The man's voice shouted loudly in Sam's ear, but before the younger boy could wheel himself away and back towards the house, he felt that same hand grab him by the hair and the other arm going around his neck from behind,_

"_I was trying to be nice, Sammy, but obviously you don't want me to play nice now, do we?" _

_Before Sam could even attempt to push himself away again, he felt the cold, hard metal being placed back up against his head and he heard the trigger being cocked. Just as the younger Winchester was opening his mouth to scream for his big brother's help, the sound of the gunshot went off and his entire world fell into darkness._

0000

"I would like to speak with your brother, Dean-"

"He's sleeping; it's pretty obvious, dad," Dean interrupted with a harsh glare his father's way as his hand continued to move through his little brother's hair,

"I'm not about to wake him up just so you can have some heart to heart conversation with him. I mean, you did act like he wasn't even in the same room with him in the hospital and the times you did talk about him, you were trying to get me to desert him. To leave him. So you've got another thing coming, dad, because-"

"Dad?"

Dean was in the middle of his rant that he didn't even notice when his brother had turned in bed and had woken up. Mentally cursing himself, the older brother laid a gentle hand back on Sam's head and attempted a smile for his sake when he saw the shock and fear in his hazel eyes,

"I didn't mean to wake you, Sammy."

"It's okay," Sam shook his head slightly, closing his eyes tightly to try and forget about the nightmare-or vision-he had just escaped from. There was no better time to wake up then now. Opening his eyes and looking back up at his big brother, Sam attempted a tiny, shaky smile of his own when he saw the deep concern in Dean's own eyes,

"I'm okay, Dean…"

"Hey, Sammy."

Lifting a hand up to wipe across his face, Sam blinked his eyes quickly as he took in the figure of his father sitting right beside his bed,

"Dad?" He repeated, sucking in a long breath. He didn't expect his father to be showing up, especially now, so this was a shock to him. One part of him was scared that his father still hated him because of the accident, but the other…well, he had missed him more then he ever thought he would. He was the only parent he and Dean had left after all, and despite his brother's anger towards John, Sam couldn't find it in himself to be angry at all,

"Hi…" He whispered quietly before he felt Dean squeeze his upper arm.

"Hey yourself, kiddo," John smiled right back at him,

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Sam replied quickly, not wanting to talk about this current dream. Embarrassment flowed through him as he took in his father's features,

"Dad…I'm sorry, dad…"

"No," John shook his head from side to side, scooting his chair closer to the bed,

"I'm the one who needs to be apologizing here, son." He looked up and met his eldest's green eyes, seeing the near hatred shining in them towards him,

"You didn't do anything wrong, alright?"

"I missed you," Sam replied, but he didn't make any move to get any closer to his father,

"Why did you leave?"

"Because I was an asshole, Sam," John replied, attempting to keep his real and true feelings safe inside of him. This was more important then anything he had ever done before and that required a whole lot of good acting on his part,

"All I was thinking was about that yellow-eyed son of a bitch that killed your mother and I wasn't thinking about the most important thing, which was your condition. I've never put you boys ahead of the hunt, but this time I want to." He turned to meet Sam's large, hazel, puppy dog eyes,

"I'm here to help, son. I promise." He paused for a brief second,

"Will you let me?" The oldest Winchester turned back towards Dean and met his own eyes,

"Dean?"

"That's why I called you back, dad," Dean growled under his breath,

"I didn't call to chit-chat. As I told you over the phone, if there's anybody who can help protect Sammy from this Gordon Walker person, it's you. It doesn't mean I trust you, though, but none of us have any other choice in the matter…"

"I'm glad you called, son," John nodded with a small smile,

"And I'll help you as much as I can."

0000

"You've been awfully quiet there, Sammy," Dean was saying as he maneuvered Sam's wheelchair down the ramp on Bobby's front porch a few days later and stopped when they reached the newly fixed-up Impala. Under ordinary circumstances, Dean would have been the one to take care of his Baby; he would never let anybody touch her with a ten foot poll.

But with the way things had been going ever since the accident, Dean's number one priority was and always would be Sammy; so, after some pushing and prodding from Bobby during the last couple of weeks, he had finally given in and allowed their family friend to take the Impala to a shop under Bobby's watchful eye…but now that she was back to being brand new, Dean still had yet to take a look at her with his own eyes. She was still very important to him and she wasn't going to be driven until Dean knew for a fact that she was in tip-top shape…and that would have to be soon, as Sam was due to have the cast removed from his left arm in two days and Dean was determined to use his Baby, if for nothing else then to make Sam feel like he was home again.

Putting the breaks on Sam's wheelchair as he turned him to face him, Dean ran his hand over the Impala's sleek black hood and hopped up onto it, facing his brother directly in the eye,

"Sammy? Did you have anymore visions?"

"No," Sam lowered his head, his bangs falling into his eyes. He knew he was lying to his brother; he had yet to tell him about the most recent vision he had had the day their father had arrived-

"Don't lie to me, Sammy," Dean interrupted sternly,

"You know I can tell when you do that." When his little brother didn't say anything, the older Winchester narrowed his green eyes and repeated,

"Did you have anymore visions?"

"I'm okay, Dean-"

"Sam, answer the question," Dean interrupted, not wanting to sound harsh to his brother, but this was damn important and if Sammy was lying to him about it…this one had to have been big,

"And no lies. You know better then that."

Sam was silent for another few moments before he finally lifted his head and started up at his big brother's eyes, which were deadly serious,

"I had one…a few days ago when dad came back, Dean…I was too scared to tell you…"

"Why? It's never stopped you before, kiddo."

"It felt more…real…I woke up after I got shot in the head, Dean…" The youngest Winchester forced himself to not lower his head and away from his brother; Dean deserved to know these details, even if they were scary,

"I don't know who it was…"

"Gordon Walker, I'll bet you anything," Dean hissed with a shake of his head,

"What else can you tell me, Sam? Where were you?"

"I was here. Outside."

"And where was I?" Dean pushed.

"The other side of the house," Sam replied, his voice starting to tremble at the memory,

"You and Bobby and dad…I was alone, Dean…and he shot me in the head…"

"He won't," The older brother interrupted firmly, determination etched into his voice. The more details he got regarding this particular vision, the more likely he could figure out how to change the course of it. Because Sam was not going to die, especially by the hands of some maniac hunter who had his sites set on his baby brother,

"You keep me up to date on these visions of yours, alright? It doesn't matter if they happen in the middle of the night or if dad or Bobby are in the same room with us. I don't care if you have to wake me out of a dead sleep; I need to know these things. Are we clear on that, Sam?"

"Yes," Sam's voice was still shaky as he answered his brother,

"But who is Gordon Walker?"

His features darkening at the very mention of this son of a bitch, Dean clenched his hands into fists and shook his head,

"Some hunter that Bobby knows about. I guess he's got some sort of reputation for being extremely dangerous…which is all the more reason why you need to tell me about these visions of yours. I'm gonna protect you, Sammy, I promise; I won't let anything happen to you."

"Don't…just don't die…" Sam whispered back, biting his lower lip.

"That's not gonna happen either, brother. Neither of us are going to die. The only person who will die will be this Gordon Walker."

0000

"How does your arm feel, kiddo?" Dean asked as he pulled the Impala out of the hospital parking lot and turned briefly to look at his little brother who was flexing his left hand and clenching and unclenching his fist,

"It doesn't hurt anymore, does it?"

"It's good," The younger Winchester replied as he continued flexing. He was relieved to finally have his arm free of that cast; he could finally be able to use both of his hands again,

"It doesn't hurt."

"Then what do you say about getting a bite to eat? I saw a diner a few blocks from Bobby's place that had an All-You-Can-Eat special…and I think I even saw something on their window about free pies," Dean smirked. He had not planned on doing this, but he had to admit, Sam needed to get out of Bobby's place and be out in public again. Being cooped up in the same house for weeks on end, wheelchair or no wheelchair, was never good for somebody and Dean knew that Sam's self-confidence needed quite a bit of a boost,

"What do you say? Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I am," Sam bit his lower lip, feeling a little bit nervous at this outing, but he would do it for Dean.

"Okay then."

A few minutes later as Dean cut the ignition and climbed out of the car, walking around to the other side to help his brother into his wheelchair, the older Winchester raised a hand and playfully tousled Sam's shaggy, dark hair.

"Stop it," Sam groaned, lifting a hand and batting his brother's hand away. A rare laugh escaped him though at the movement. If he was honest with himself, it felt good to laugh, even it was for a brief moment, and he knew that Dean would do anything if it meant getting him to continue.

As Dean pushed his brother into the diner, the jingling of the bell sounding loudly in the doorway, a smile formed on his face as a waitress a little older then him walked by and smiled at both him and Sam,

"Go ahead and seat yourself, boys. I'll be by to take your order shortly." Her smile was gentle as she reached for a couple of menus and handed them to Dean.

With a nod of his head as he took in her long, blonde ponytail and her bright green eyes, Dean glanced down at her nametag and returned the smile,

"Thanks, Toni."

Blushing slightly, Toni turned away and walked in the other direction as Dean pushed his little brother over to a nearby booth and handed him the menu,

"I hope their cheeseburgers are worth it…" He licked his lips,

"Damn, I'm starving." He looked over Sam's head and watched as Toni started to make her way back over to them,

"She's pretty cute, too."

"Dean…" Sam rolled his hazel eyes and shook his head as he flipped through the menu, a frown forming on his lips,

"Uh…Dean…"

"Yeah." Dean continued staring at the menu and when his brother didn't reply, a frown formed on his own face,

"What's wrong, Sammy?"

Before Sam could reply, however, Toni had stopped at their table and smiled brightly at both of them,

"Can I get you two anything to drink?" Her eyes landed on Dean and her smile widened.

"Just water," Sam replied, his voice quiet and his face turning a bright shade of pink as his eyes continued skimming over the menu.

"I'll take a Coke," Dean added, his eyes watching Toni's every move before he added,

"And maybe your number?"

Toni let out a quiet laugh and shook her head slightly,

"If you're trying to flirt, you need to do it the proper way." She shot him a wink and nodded towards the window,

"Is that your car out front?"

"That's her," Dean nodded.

"Well then, I guess you're already taken, aren't you?" She quipped back before turning her attention to Sam,

"Are you about ready to order, sweetie?" She turned serious as she saw the way the younger Winchester was frowning down at the menu.

Knowing that he needed to talk with his brother privately for a moment, Dean threw Toni a quick smile before replying,

"We'll be a few more minutes."

"Take your time." Her voice remained serious and no longer flirtatious as she walked away and headed back towards the counter.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Dean asked, his frown deepening as he saw his brother's face turn a slight shade of red,

"Are-"

"I…can't read most of this…" Sam looked down at the menu and nodded at it,

"I'm sorry, Dean…"

Eyebrows arched in surprise, Dean looked from the menu and then back up at his little brother. He never saw this coming, that was for certain,

"I've seen you with some of Bobby's books before, Sammy-"

"I was trying to read on my own," The younger brother lowered his head in what looked like shame,

"I didn't tell Bobby either…I didn't want to look stupid-"

"Stop it right there," Dean interrupted firmly, gripping his brother's shoulder and forcing him to look at him,

"Nobody calls my brother stupid, and that includes you. I wish you would've told me about this earlier, Sammy; I would've helped you and you know Bobby would have as well."

"I know. It was the accident, right, Dean?"

Choosing not to reply directly to that particular question, Dean smiled somewhat sadly and squeezed Sam's shoulder reassuringly,

"Don't worry about it, little brother; we'll figure it all out together, I promise." Sadness weighed heavily on Dean's heart as he opened Sam's menu back up again, but didn't turn away from his brother,

"Just because of that damn accident, it doesn't change you, Sam, I promise. Reading or no reading. Alright?"

"Alright," Sam quietly replied, his heart feeling heavy all over again,

"I'm sorry, Dean-"

"Cut that out, Sammy; I don't want to hear you apologizing for this anymore," The older brother interrupted, narrowing his eyes,

"We'll just take this little by little, just like everything else. Now…what is it you would like to eat?"

As Toni made her way back up to their table a few minutes later, Dean was unable to control the smile from reappearing on his face at the sight of her. He had to admit it, he was a little concerned at the idea of bringing his little brother out in public for the first time since the accident; the last thing he ever wanted was for Sam to be ridiculed due to his disability and embarrassed. The world itself was filled with so many horrible people who liked to take advantage and tease and mock people who were different, and Dean would not put up with any of that if any of that hatred was directed at his baby brother.

But he also wanted Sammy to feel as normal as possible, brain damage and paralysis or not, he was still his brother and he was still Sam. And he wanted people to see that. So with Toni's appearance, and the way she was so friendly around his little brother, it warmed Dean's heart that there were indeed good people out in this world, people who weren't Gordon Walker or his father, people who looked past Sam's disability and see the person that he still was inside.

"How are my two favorite customers doing over here?" Toni asked one last time as she dropped by their table a little over two hours later and brought over their bill just as Sam was finishing his food. She knelt down at Sam's eye level and laid a gentle hand on the younger brother's arm,

"I hope the cook got your meal right this time around, sweetie; I'm so sorry that had to be remade twice…"

"It's okay," Sam replied with a small smile of his own, allowing his dimples to appear,

"You're very nice. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure, boys," Toni replied with a smile of her own. She squeezed Sam's arm and turned back to Dean, nodding at the bill,

"Because of those mix-ups, you've been given a free meal this afternoon." She lifted her other hand and set a plastic container down in front of the table,

"And a slice of pie for the road. My treat."

"Free pie?" Dean's green eyes sparkled with happiness as he brought the container over and lifted the top, taking in the apple pie,

"Toni, you're a doll."

"Come by any time, you two," Toni rose back to her feet and was about to say something else when a couple voices from the table two tables down caused her to turn around.

"Hey sweetie, you're giving the cripple there free food?" The first voice snorted as he shoveled a forkful of food into his mouth,

"What makes them so special?"

Her face burning red with anger, Toni shot an apologetic look Sam and Dean's way before turning to face the small group laughing at the table,

"Roy, I've given you fare warning. Last time you were here, I told you and your buddies you could only continue to eat here if you-"

"I know, I know, if I behaved myself," Roy interrupted with another snort,

"Try and stop me, sweetie." He puckered his lips and made kissing noises and laughed along with his friends as he turned around to face Sam,

"Hey cripple! Are you going to be here every day, taking advantage of my lady friend here? Because I'm tellin' ya, cripples like you get all of the attention." He reached across the tables and snapped his fingers,

"Are you stupid, too, cripple-"

Just as Dean had risen to his feet and was making his way over to the table, his face bright red with anger, he felt a gentle hand on his chest, stopping him in his tracks,

"Nobody talks to my brother that way, Toni, customers or not-"

"I'll take care of them, honey," Toni interrupted gently, looking over Dean's shoulder at Sam, who was now hiding behind his long bangs. Anger churned in her gut at the very thought of just what this poor boy was feeling at the moment, being the butt of the jokes hurled his way by a group of morons,

"I promise."

His green eyes narrowed into slits at the small group of guys, Dean wanted more then anything to grab each of them and beat the living shit out of them. He had seen the look on Sammy's face as they had spoken and although his brother was quiet the entire time, the silence said everything. Forcing himself to hold himself together and not lose his temper, the older Winchester brother watched with fascination as Toni walked back around the counter and returned a few short moments later with the manager. Heated words were spoken and within just a matter of minutes, the small group was escorted out of the diner, glares shot Sam's way as they walked.

By the time the group had finally left, Dean was already in the process of pushing his brother out the door of the diner. Just as he reached the passenger door of the Impala, however, a hand on his shoulder caused him to turn around and he met the concerned green eyes of Toni.

"I'm so sorry about those punks…"

"It's not your fault," Dean replied quickly, wanting to just get his brother into the car and get back to Bobby's…and hope and pray that Sam wasn't even more emotionally scarred because of this,

"Thanks for that, though…"

With a nod of her head, Toni sighed softly and knelt down at Sam's eye level,

"You're welcome back any time, sweetie. Both of you." She nodded up at Dean and reached into her apron to pull out a set of coupons, which she handed to the older brother,

"I promise you, next time, you won't come across those punks. They've been causing us trouble for quite some time now and we should've kicked them out long ago."

"Thanks, Toni," Dean nodded in appreciation as she stood back up, but not before reaching out and offering Sam a quick hug. Releasing him, she then planted a gentle kiss on Dean's cheek before turning back around and walking back into the diner.

With a long sigh, Dean looked back down at his little brother, who was still hanging his head and squeezed his shoulder,

"Let's get out of here, brother."

Sam's nod was the only confirmation that he heard him and within a matter of a few minutes, both brothers were back in the Impala and driving back to Bobby's. Along the way, Dean was silent until they pulled back up in the gravel lot and he turned to face Sam once again,

"Sammy-"

"I'm okay, Dean," Sam interrupted, speaking for the first time.

"I would've ripped their lungs out if it wasn't in public, Sammy," Dean spoke as softly as he could, although anger was churning in his gut.

"I know," The younger brother whispered back,

"I'm okay."

Knowing once again that his little brother wasn't being completely honest with him, Dean chose to let it go for the time being. If he knew his brother at all, and he did, Dean knew that Sam wouldn't want to talk about this just yet; he would eventually when the time was right, but just from the look that was on Sam's face, the older Winchester knew that he wouldn't get much out of him if he pushed and prodded.

"We'll talk later about this, okay, kiddo?" Dean gently laid a hand on the back of Sam's neck and squeezed,

"Just know none of what they said was true."

"I just want to go inside, Dean," Sam quietly replied back, not turning to face his brother but not pulling away either,

"Please?"

"Alright," Dean replied but before getting out of the car, gently pulled his brother against his shoulder and held him there for a few moments,

"It's okay, Sammy. It'll all be okay."

0000

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note**

This is not a new chapter, it's just a small author's note to let everybody know that I've taken down Chapter 11 for the time being, but I will be re-posting it later on. There are some things I need to fix in it (I should have done that BEFORE I posted it, but such is life). It shouldn't be too long, but I just wanted to let everybody know that when the next chapter is out, it will just be a re-furnish of Chapter 11 so to speak.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N- **Here is the re-furnished Chapter 11 (I'm leaving my previous Author's Note in for anybody who might be confused as to where the previous chapter went) that I promised. I apologize for having to take the chapter down recently, but as I said before, I had to fix a bunch of things and I posted it w/o really proof-reading. That's how I operate sometimes, I guess, LOL. Anyways, I've corrected quite a bit of things in this chapter; so for those who have already read and reviewed the former Chapter 11, I hope you'll take the time to read this as well as there are a bunch of changes and anything that appeared OOC to me has been fixed. I want to thank Aecoris for her constant support throughout all of my stories, as well as all of her wonderful ideas she's given to me. I dedicate this chapter to you, my friend!

**Chapter 11**

John Winchester stood in the empty house, staring out the kitchen window and narrowed his dark eyes as he watched Dean help his little brother out of the Impala and into his wheelchair. From the look on his eldest's face, he knew immediately that something had to have happened to cause that look to appear.

It was either one of two things; either Sam had experience the real world for the first time all over again and had gotten treated like a monster, or they had had an encounter with Gordon. It couldn't have been the later, John was sure of it. If it had been, Sam would not still be alive…plus, it wasn't time yet for that course of action to take place.

Not yet.

Clenching his hands into fists, the eldest Winchester's eyes continued watching as Dean maneuvered Sam's wheelchair until it was facing him and, after having grabbed a beer bottle from Bobby's cooler on the front porch, his oldest son hopped up onto the hood of the Impala and continued talking to his brother. It was pretty apparent that neither boy had any idea their father was watching them from the house and, honestly, John was relieved by that.

He needed the house to himself for the time being. He needed to go over important things in his head, like back-up plans if Gordon's plan went south.

With a loud sigh, John grabbed a bottle of beer out of Bobby's refrigerator and sunk down into the nearest chair at the kitchen table, his eyes never leaving his sons. Everything had been going a lot harder then he had expected and it was making him angrier and angrier as each day passed and Dean still would not allow him to Sam to be alone with him.

True, there was a little less tension between him and his eldest boy, but when it came to Sam…that was a whole other story and every day, John had to force himself to not lose his temper, to keep his cool…or else Dean and Bobby both would kick them out of the house before he could even say another word. If either of them ever found out, or if Sam had any type of vision, that he had been the one to place Gordon on Sam's trail, John knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dean wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

Running a hand through his dark hair and then over his face and through his beard, John Winchester took a long sip from the bear bottle and kept his eyes on both boys as they talked in what appeared to be a serious manner. Even with the window open slightly, he was unable to make out what it was they were talking about, but that didn't matter to the eldest Winchester.

Leaning back into his chair, John pushed the beer bottle away and turned his gaze away for a moment to stare at the far corner of the kitchen, allowing his mind wander, if only for a few minutes. This whole plan was not going how he had expected and the older man silently cursed himself for allowing himself to take this long to take care of the problem that was Sam.

He had known for a long time that there was something off about his youngest; although he didn't know for certain until the past few years when Sam was at Stanford that Yellow-Eyes had bled into the boys' mouth the night Mary was killed, John still should have done something about it. He should have gone with his gut on first instinct. But instead, he had waited this long, waited until both of his sons were practically joined at the hip and Dean was more protective over his little brother then he was over anybody else…which made things all the harder now. His eldest didn't trust him and Bobby Singer sure as hell didn't trust him at all.

They only assumed he was hanging around just to help them protect Sam and catch Gordon Walker.

But it was all too late now; there was no going back. What's done was done and John was just going to have to make due with what they did have…and as long as he was able to gain Dean's trust back, even just a little bit, things would be alright. Gordon would take care of the problem and John would be out of the picture as quickly as possible.

That is, if Gordon succeeded.

A frown formed on the older man's face as he considered the possibility once again if he would have to be the one to take one the task of eliminating his own son,

"A monster. Not my son," He growled under his breath with a shake of his head. Sam had never been his son, not since Yellow-Eyes had gotten a hold of him…He had just never fully realized the severity of what Sam was, and who he would become, if he wasn't eliminated.

And it would be done, no matter what. Whether Gordon succeeded or not, it would be done…and soon.

0000

"It's okay, Dean, really," Sam was quietly saying as he accepted the water bottle which Dean handed to him and watched as his big brother moved to sit on the hood of the Impala, his eyes on him,

"I'm not mad about what happened-"

"I know you're not, Sammy," Dean gently interrupted, unscrewing the cap of his own beer bottle and taking a small sip before frowning at his little brother,

"That's just who you are; but that doesn't mean that gave them the right to treat you that way." He sighed when Sam didn't reply; instead, his brother just sat there, his water bottle resting in his lap,

"It was a shitty thing they pulled, Sam, and if we weren't in a public place, I would've ripped their lungs out!"

"No, you wouldn't," The younger brother shook his head in denial,

"I know you wouldn't."

"Yes," Dean pressed,

"You know I would have, even if it was in public. If Toni hadn't stopped me-"

"But she did," Sam interrupted, meeting Dean's green eyes,

"And they were right…"

"Like HELL they were, Sammy!" Dean growled, wanting more then anything to throw his beer bottle across Bobby's yard…or better yet, grab that Roy bastard and smash his head into that very beer bottle, killing him,

"Sam-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Dean," Sam gently interrupted,

"Please?"

Before Dean could reply with a comeback, the sound of Bobby's front door opening sounded from just a few feet away and the older brother arched an eyebrow as their father made his way across the lot with a smile.

Although things had started looking slightly better between himself and John Winchester, the last thing Dean ever allowed his father to do was be alone with Sammy. That's all there was to it, and although John was proving himself over the past week or so, that didn't change everything that had happened right after the accident and Dean wasn't willing to forgive and forget so easily. He was going to have to continue proving his trust to him…and once he was satisfied, then he might be able to allow John to be alone with Sam. But until then…

"How are you boys doing?" John's voice broke into Dean's scrambled thoughts,

"Looks like the doctor's appointment went well, Sammy?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded his head with a small smile at his father.

"You boys okay?" The elder Winchester arched an eyebrow at both brothers when silence fell upon them and Dean sucked in a sharp breath when he watched John lay a careful hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Just some fuckin' punks at a diner, dad; nothing I can't handle," Dean growled once again.

"Oh?" John pulled over the cooler and took a seat on top of it, eyeing both of his sons and watching as Sam's face held sadness and Dean's pure anger,

"Is it something you need for me to take care of, Dean?" He met his oldest son's eyes and watched as Dean's eyebrows arched up to his forehead.

"I've got it covered, dad," Dean replied a little too quickly,

"Was just some humans who didn't know not to mess with my brother, that's all."

With a nod of his head, John continued, twirling his own beer bottle in his hands,

"Other then that, you boys doing alright?"

Not bothering to answer the question directed at him, Dean cleared his throat and asked his own question that he needed answered,

"Any more news on this Gordon Walker character?" He pinned his father with a serious look before looking around and noticing that Bobby's truck was missing,

"Where's Bobby?"

"He had to run and get some supplies," John replied,

"And I think I might have gotten a wind of this Gordon Walker's trail. He's not too far from this area as a matter of fact, Dean; so you and Sammy need to be extra careful, you hear me?" He pinned Dean with a look of his own before looking over at his youngest,

"This man is an animal, boys; I've heard about this guy during the time I was hunting on my own and…well, let's just say that whenever he has his sights set on something, he goes for it, not questions asked. So you two," He gestured with his beer bottle to both boys,

"Stick together and Dean, take care of your brother-"

"When don't I, dad?" Dean snapped, narrowing his eyes at his father,

"I always take care of him, especially from monsters like that, even if they are human!"

"I know that," The older man patiently replied,

"I'm just saying to make myself feel better, you know? This isn't your normal case…" He turned his attention towards Sam,

"And these visions…you haven't had anymore recently, have you, son?"

"No," He shook his head, looking back and forth between his father and brother, his large hazel eyes growing more worried as he listened to John talk,

"Nothing yet, dad."

"Okay," John nodded his head in confirmation as he rose to his feet and reached down to squeeze Sam's shoulder,

"That's good. Keep me posted on this, Sammy." He turned his attention back to Dean,

"You too, Dean."

"Yes, sir," The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and Dean wanted to slap himself upside the head. The last time he had ever spoken those very words to his father was before the accident, back when he was John Winchester's good little soldier, before their father had betrayed them the worst way possible. So what was he doing saying that now?

As John made his way back into Bobby's house and he turned his attention back to his baby brother, Dean was unable to stop the thoughts going through his head.

Maybe John really was back on their side after all? Maybe they really would be safe from this Gordon Walker? If anybody could take that animal down, it would be their father...and he was going to need the trust in order to do just that.

0000

**2 months later…**

"Sam! Sammy, calm down!" Dean and John, with Bobby right behind them, followed the youngest Winchester out the front door and down the wheelchair ramp into Bobby's front yard. Dean was the first to catch up to his little brother and grabbed the handles of his wheelchair to pull him around to face him, but he was unprepared for the devastated look on his little brother's face,

"Sam-"

"He's going to kill both of us, Dean!" Sam was near hyperventilation at his point, not paying any attention as his brother knelt down in front of him, keeping a tight grip on his trembling shoulders,

"He's going to-"

"Sammy! Calm down!" Dean shouted, giving his brother a light shake to snap him out of it. He hated taking this tone of voice with his hysterical brother, but it was the only way. One minute, the four of them had been having dinner, the next, Sam had nearly collapsed, his eyes rolling back into his head and the familiar routine of his visions had taken place. It had taken almost two minutes for Dean, John and Bobby to finally wake his brother up, but by the time Sam was fully alert and no longer groaning in pain, he had whirled his wheelchair around and made his way out the door before anybody could stop him,

"What was it that you saw, Sam?" When his brother did nothing but shake his head, Dean gave him another hard shake,

"Sam! Answer the question!"

"He's going to kill us, Dean; I just said that!" Sam raised his voice a notch, looking past Dean as his father knelt down on his other side,

"Dad…He's coming soon…"

"How soon, Sam?" Bobby spoke up before John could get in a word and all three Winchesters turned in time to see the oldest hunter pull his gun out and checking the bullets inside,

"Any idea?"

"A few days…or, a few hours…something like that, Bobby," Sam was still trembling madly, even with Dean firmly holding onto him for support,

"Dean, he's going to kill you-"

"No, he won't," Dean interrupted sternly, not giving his little brother a chance to continue,

"Neither of us are going to die, you hear me, Sammy?" With Sam still trembling uncontrollably, Dean reached out and pulled his brother against his shoulder and held on tightly. He gently rubbed Sam's back to soothe him and waited until some of the trembling left his body before continuing,

"Nobody."

"Then we need to take precaution here, you idjit," Bobby chimed in, looking around his junk yard and the outside of his house, his hunter instincts kicking into overdrive at the moment. They needed to get somewhere safe and they needed to do it now,

"John-" Before the older man finished, however, his eyes narrowed as he watched John Winchester rise to his feet and make his way over to his truck, pulling out a couple of riffles, one of which he was handing over to Dean,

"John, what are you doing?"

"Come with me, Dean," John ordered when Dean had released his baby brother from his firm grasp,

"We need to take a look around this area and secure it. Bobby will look after Sammy."

"Dad-"

"Sam will be safe with Bobby, son," John's voice lost some of it's sternness and in its place was pure concern,

"You know that."

"You bet your ass he's safe with me," Bobby reassured as he moved closer to stand behind Sam's wheelchair, resting his hand that wasn't holding his gun on one of the handles,

"Dean, go with your daddy. I'll keep an eye on your brother here, but you had best keep an eye out for yourselves, you hear me, idjits?" His dark eyes narrowed at both older Winchesters,

"Go on."

"Dean…Be careful, Dean," Sam whispered, feeling himself start to tremble all over again. Thankfully, this wasn't how his most recent vision had played out; but it still didn't stop him from worrying sick over his big brother. He couldn't lose him, not Dean. Not ever,

"Promise me, Dean…"

"I'll come back, little brother, I swear to you I will," Dean promised as he pulled his brother back into his arms until he was nearly in his lap,

"You have my big brother word on it. Have I ever let you down before?"

"No."

"Then I won't start now," The older brother nodded as he ran a slightly shaky hand through Sam's shaggy locks, all the while meeting his father's dark, concerned eyes over his brother's head,

"I don't know what it is you have planned, dad; but if we're gonna do it, let's get it over with!"

Just a few months ago, there never would have been an option for Dean to leave his brother, even with Bobby, if he wasn't in the same room. But as time went by, and John Winchester had slowly started to gain back the trust he had lost with both of his sons, Dean felt himself starting to allow Sam to be left with somebody else that wasn't him. It was never for very long and he never went far, and of course, he still refused to leave Sam alone with anybody that wasn't named John or Bobby. But things had definitely improved; Sam, as a matter of fact, had been the first one to push Dean into allowing him to leave his side for a while. The older Winchester brother at first had not taken that lightly and his reply of course had been, "Hell no", but eventually, with his little brother's persuading, he had finally given in and although the trust between Dean and John still wasn't like it was in the past, the elder brother no longer felt like he wanted to kill his son of a bitch father with the Colt.

So yeah, that was definitely something.

On top of that, Sam's physical condition was slowly improving as the weeks went on. With much practice and a lot of patience on both of their parts, Dean had finally succeeded in helping his brother push his wheelchair by himself. It had been impossible in the first month since the accident, with Sam's broken arm and everything, but ever since the incident in the diner, both with that Roy punk and Toni's friendliness, Sam's stubborn streak had won out and although he had been quite slow at first, bumping into tables, chairs and even Bobby's desk as well, the younger Winchester had finally begun to succeed. He still had problems every now and then, but he was a Winchester and Winchesters never gave up, especially on something like this; so with Dean's support and encouragement – and especially patience – Sam was finally able to move himself around the house and as was proven just a few minutes ago, even was able to leave the house now without help.

But that didn't mean that Dean's protective, mother-hen-like streak had left. Absolutely not. The leash the older brother had on Sam had been cut a tiny bit, but it was still long enough for Dean to keep a hold of and he refused to let go of it fully.

But right now…he really had no choice. If it meant he had to leave his little brother with Bobby in order to protect him, then he would do it. Finally releasing Sam from his hold, Dean rose back to his feet and nodded at John as he was handed a riffle,

"Let's do this." He shot a look back at Bobby and said firmly,

"Watch out for him, Bobby."

"Duh." Bobby rolled his eyes as he placed a protective hand on Sam's shoulder as both John and Dean rounded the corner and started to disappear from sight,

"Alrighty, Sam, let's get you back inside the house now, shall we?"

"Bobby…"

"What is it?"

"I want to stay out here…wait for Dean…" Sam quietly spoke, his heart pounding loudly in his chest as the fear he was feeling started to triple,

"I want to make sure Dean's okay…"

"He'll be okay, boy-"

"Please, Bobby?" Sam turned his large, hazel eyes upwards and looked his friend straight in the eye, pleading,

"You'll stay with me, but I want to wait out here for him?"

Sighing loudly, the older hunter rolled his eyes and shook his head. When could he ever say no to those eyes? It was nearly impossible, even in as serious of circumstances as this,

"Alright, Sam, but I'm not-"

Before Bobby could finish however, a loud noise sounded from the other side of the junk yard and the next thing he saw was smoke and flame rising from one of the cars a few feet away,

"Balls!"

0000

"Goddamnit!" The curse escaped Gordon Walker's lips and his eyes narrowed into slits from where he knelt crouched on the other side of Bobby's yard, watching as John and Dean left, leaving Bobby standing by Sam's side…not appearing to be going anywhere. Cursing under his breath again as anger over this situation consumed him, the hunter looked down at the Colt in his hand before tucking it into his jacket. Glancing around him, he suddenly remembered bottle of beer that was still nearly full tucked safely in his jacket. An idea forming in his mind, the hunter pulled it out as well as a rag and a lighter he brought with him just in case.

Good thing he went with this gut because there was no proper time to use it then now.

Managing a quick glance at Bobby's house and spotting the partially open window, away from Bobby and Sam's line of vision, Gordon nodded his head and stuck the rag into the bottle and flicked the lighter, setting it ablaze. Rising to his feet, he spotted a nearby junk car and took careful aim, sending the blazing bottle in it's direction, sending up a ball of fire.

"Balls!"

Bobby's curse was exactly what Gordon had expected and, knowing he needed to be quick, he hurried over to the window and after a few tugs, managed to weasel his large body through it and into the house.

0000

"What are you going to do?" Sam was growing more concerned by the second as he watched Bobby look in between the fire and the house, but before he could continue asking questions, he felt his friend grab the handles of his wheelchair and start to push him inside,

"Bobby?"

"I'm getting you inside, son, then I need to put that fire out!" Bobby replied frantically, making his way up the ramp and to the door, pushing it all the way open with his foot,

"I have no other choice." As they made their way through the front door, the older man looked around him and grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher. Before he did anything, however, he handed his gun to Sam, looking him straight in the eye,

"You know what to do with this, kid?"

"Yes." Sam's face was turning a shade of pale as he looked down at the gun in his hands. Before the accident, the feel of a gun would have been completely normal for him; but now that things were so different, feeling a gun in his hands was so…foreign, so different. It just didn't seem right. But Bobby wanted him to hold onto it, so that's what he would do.

"If you see anything or anyone that comes through that door that isn't me or your brother or father, shoot it, you understand me?" At his friend's nod, Bobby continued,

"I'll be right back. I'm going to lock this door behind me, as well as the back doors. But I need to put that fire out. I'll be back in less then five minutes, I swear, Sam."

"Be careful, Bobby." Sam's large eyes followed Bobby's movements as he moved towards the kitchen and locked the back door before disappearing out the front, locking that door behind him as well. When all was silent in the house, Sam listened as Bobby turned on the fire extinguisher outside and started to put out the flames. The gun resting limply in his right hand, Sam watched out the side window as his older friend moved quickly around the car that was on fire, every now and then turning back at the house to stare in his direction.

Looking down at the gun in his hands and feeling his stomach clench at just the feel of the cool metal, Sam was about to move himself further into Bobby's library when he felt himself grabbed from behind and a hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes widened as he then felt the familiar feel of a gun pressing into the back of his neck.

0000

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 12**

Sam's hands trembled violently and before he knew what had happened, he felt the gun that was in his hands being snatched from him and an unfamiliar voice whispered into his left ear,

"Not a word, Sam, you hear me?" When the younger boy didn't reply with even a nod, as the hand was still over his mouth, he heard the sickening sound of the gun cocking and felt it being pressed back up against his neck,

"You hear me, boy?" Knowing that his vision was starting to come true, Sam bit his lower lip and nodded his head. This man had to be Gordon Walker, there was no other person it could be…and if his vision was going to come true and he was going to attempt to kill him, Sam knew one thing and that was that he was going to have to do everything possible to not let that happen.

He couldn't leave Dean behind. He couldn't let this stranger kill him…then who would protect Dean?

"Good boy," The voice whispered again, his hand never leaving Sam's mouth, but he felt the gun being removed from his neck for a moment,

"Good boy. Now, I normally wouldn't do this to a human being, I am a hunter after all, but…you're not human, son," His voice dripped with sympathy for a moment and Sam's hazel eyes widened in shock at the words. He wasn't human? What did that mean? If he wasn't human, then what was he? His brain screamed for both Dean and Bobby right then and he blinked back the moister that was threatening to build up in his eyes. He might be weaker now, he might not be the same person he used to be, but he wasn't dumb and he wasn't going to let Gordon Walker get the pleasure of seeing him cry…even if there was a good reason for it,

"I'm terribly sorry I have to do this, Sam, but, it's something that must be done. It's the only option." The gun was moved so that it was pointing directly at the back of his neck again,

"Now, you've got the option of doing this the easy way or the hard way; which will it be, Sam?"

Before Sam could think of what to do, however, Gordon cursed in his ear and moved his hand away from the younger boy's mouth,

"Goddamn it!" Shooting a look out the window and seeing Bobby racing back towards the house, the older man moved the gun and pointed it directly in Sam's face as he moved to stand behind the door,

"One word and you won't be the only one dead this evening." Tucking Sam's gun inside the waistband of his jeans, Gordon smirked and ducked out of sight just as Bobby opened the door and made his way over to the youngest Winchester.

"You alright, boy?"

Frowning at the look of terror on Sam's face, Bobby's heart started to race and his gut was telling him that things were worse then they appeared…especially when he noticed that the gun he had given to his friend was no longer in his possession,

"Sam, where's the gun I gave you?"

Sam felt a few tears roll down his face and he finally was unable to take it anymore when he saw Gordon slowly move towards Bobby,

"Bobby, watch out!"

Before Bobby could move fast enough, however, the next thing he felt was metal coming in contact with his skull and he collapsed to the ground in a boneless heap.

Gordon narrowed his eyes dangerously as he moved the gun again so that it was pointed directly at Sam's face. He shook his head, all fake sympathy leaving his features,

"I take it you want to do it the hard way, don't you, son?"

"Don't kill him…" Sam whispered, feeling his arms shaking as he attempted to move his wheelchair backwards; but he wasn't fast enough yet again when he watched Gordon step over Bobby's body and move up behind him and wrap his arm tightly around his neck from behind, cutting off his air. Gasping in shock, Sam closed his eyes tightly and fumbled with the arm that was hurting him,

"P-please…"

"You know, even with that brain damage…yes, I heard about that accident you were in; who in the hunting community hasn't heard about it?" He snorted in Sam's ear and continued as if he was making light conversation,

"Even with that, you're still as stubborn as ever, you know that? You just want to make things worse, don't you?"

"Please…" Sam continued to gasp for air and opened his eyes, slowly starting to see starts dance across his vision,

"D-don't…" Helplessness traveled through him as he once again felt Gordon's hand clamp over his mouth.

Was this is? Was this how it was all going to end for him?

No. No, it wasn't. There was still one thing he could do…one thing that could save his life…

Not bothering to give it anymore thought, as it was now or never, Sam opened his mouth, and although he was still lacking air, bit down as hard as he could on the hand covering his mouth. Relief flowed through him right then as the arm holding him finally removed itself from around his neck and Sam sucked in the air he needed badly, ignoring the sounds of Gordon's curses and screams. Before he could do anything more, however, he felt something hard come in contact with his head and all went black.

0000

"Dad, I've got a bad feeling about this-"

"You'd be nuts if you had a good feeling about it, Dean," John Winchester interrupted from where he was a few steps ahead of his oldest son. He stopped in his tracks right then and turned around when he saw that Dean wasn't moving,

"C'mon, son-"

"I think Sammy's in trouble…" Dean was unable to shake the desperate feeling in the pit of his stomach. Call it a big brother instinct, or his never-ending 'Sammy-radar' as he liked to call it, but something was telling him that there was trouble…and it wasn't in the direction John was leading him to,

"Dad, are you sure this hideout is around here?"

Growing more and more annoyed by the second that this wasn't going as he had planned, John bit back a retort that was on the tip of his tongue and forced himself to remain as calm and patient as he could. He needed to get Dean to trust him completely and getting angry at him wasn't going to help the matter,

"Dean, we've found a couple of guns nearby, you saw them; and they weren't loaded with rock salt or anything like that, so it wasn't for anything supernatural." He took a step closer to his oldest,

"Sammy's been having those visions that this Gordon Walker character is nearby and if I know anything at all about dangerous hunters like these, they like to stay hidden. He probably has some sort of hideout and is just waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce." He gestured to the second gun that was in Dean's hand,

"We found that one not far from Bobby's and this one," He lifted up the second gun he held in his hand,

"This one is nearly identical…Dean, you don't find guns lying around for no apparent reason, and if anybody should confront and take this son of a bitch out, it's us-"

"Dad, I don't know; I just have that feeling!" The younger Winchester interrupted with a shake of his head,

"I just think we're going in the wrong direction…"

"Dean, do you trust me?" John chose this opportunity to ask the million dollar question. It was now or never.

"I don't know, dad, okay?" Dean rolled his eyes and sighed,

"I know your intentions are good, but as far as Sammy goes…I'm the only one, aside from Bobby, that I trust to look after him."

"Then I'll prove it to you, son; I'll prove it to you by helping to save your little brother-"

"Then listen to me when I say that I believe the danger is elsewhere, dad," Dean was growing more desperate by the second and the longer they stalled and argued about which direction to go in, the more likely it was that Sam would get hurt,

"If it turns out I'm wrong, then great, we'll continue; but I have to make sure, dad. That's it!" Meeting John's eyes, Dean's green eyes narrowed slightly,

"It's Sammy, dad, and I won't put him in any danger."

"Of course, son," John chose to not sigh in annoyance or do anything else that would cause suspicion, but as he turned and followed his oldest son back to Bobby's house, he silently cursed to himself.

This was not going to end well if Dean walked in on Gordon's job…If Gordon was failing and John was going to have to take him out, then that left the oldest Winchester patriarch with only one solution.

He would have to take Sam out himself.

0000

Sam felt himself slowly swimming back to consciousness and the first thing he noticed was Gordon kneeling down in front of him, but before he could open his mouth, he felt a fist come in contact with his jaw and he bit back a cry as blood flowed from his mouth at the punch. Feeling his entire body trembling madly, he looked over Gordon's shoulder and saw Bobby still lying limply on the floor in the front hall,

"Bobby…"

"Had to knock him out again, Sam; it was necessary," Gordon explained as he rose to his feet and stood behind Sam's wheelchair, resting a strong hand on his shoulder and squeezing painfully,

"I don't think he'll be waking up any time soon. You on the other hand, I thought would be out longer. But that's alright; Bobby here wouldn't want to see this anyways, so all is good."

"Get away from me!" Although he was feeling dizzy and his head hurt all over, Sam somehow managed to jerk away from Gordon's touch and was just about to wheel himself away, when he felt himself being pulled backwards,

"Stop it!"

"You stubborn little shit," Gordon growled as he hooked his arm once more around Sam's neck and squeezed as tightly as he could, smiling when he heard the choked gasp coming from the younger boy,

"You just don't give up, do you?" He moved his other hand which held the gun into Sam's line of vision and waved it,

"See this? The bullets in this gun are intended for you." The hunter allowed a cocky grin to form on his face as he looked down at his inside jacket pocket where the Colt lay safely,

"As I told you before, you're not human; you're never going to be human and the world needs to be eliminated of you so that you don't hurt anybody. So quit being a selfish little shit, quit fighting me and allow me to do what needs to be done, alright?"

An anger formed deep in Sam's stomach, an anger he hadn't felt in a long time – not since before the accident, he was sure of it – and his large, hazel eyes connected with the gun being waved in front of him and with as much strength as he had in him, despite the fact that he was still being choked to death, Sam reached a trembling hand up and snatched the gun from Gordon's grasp and even though it hurt, leaned his head forward and then snapped it back so that his head butted with Gordon's, causing him to release him.

But this time, Sam didn't get so lucky and with a huge wave of dizziness flowing through him, he was unable to stop his body from leaning forward and felt himself falling out of his wheelchair and onto the ground beside Bobby's unconscious body.

0000

"Slow down, Dean!" John called out as he quickened his pace to try and keep up with his oldest son,

"Wait up, son!"

Ignoring his father's calls as he was just seeing Singer Salvage come into his line of vision, Dean raced through the entrance of the junk yard and ran past the lines of cars before turning back around just as John caught up with him, nearly out of breath,

"There's no time to slow down, dad!" He snapped, tucking one of the guns into the inside of his jacket and cocking the trigger of his own. Dean was about to say something else when something caught his eye and the smell of smoke hit his nostrils. Turning to his right and seeing one of the junk cars still covered in what was left of what appeared to be a fire, Dean's breath caught in his throat and his big brother instincts kicked into overdrive,

"Sammy…"

"Let me go in first, son," John grabbed onto his boy's jacket sleeve and started to pull him back when Dean yanked his arm free to glare right at him.

"Not on my life," He growled, not wasting anymore time as he ran to the front door and kicked it open, John right on his heels. What he saw, however, made his blood boil and if it wasn't for his father suddenly grabbing onto him once again, he would have made a lunge for the figure standing in the middle of the room, now towering over Sam, who was no longer in his wheelchair…and Bobby, who was unconscious right beside him on the hard wood floor,

"Son of a bitch!" One on hand, all Dean wanted to do was pound that son of a bitch – Gordon Walker, he was certain of it – to death, but on the other hand, his baby brother was sprawled out, injured, on the floor and Gordon was holding a gun right at Sam's head, getting ready to aim.

And was that the Colt in his hand?

Dean felt himself rooted to the spot; one wrong move and his brother would be dead…Before he could think of what he was going to do, however, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and watched as John raced forward, his own gun out and pointed directly at Gordon's head. Before either men said anything, John reached and pulled the trigger on his own hand gun, hitting the younger man in the leg. As soon as Dean saw the other hunter collapse to the ground in agony, a scream ripping through him at the bullet, the older Winchester brother finally felt his legs moving and he was beside his brother in a second. Kneeling beside him, Dean reached and cradled Sam's bloody head in his hands and cursed silently as he saw the large bump forming on his forehead and the bruises on his throat,

"Sammy?" He watched as Sam blinked his eyes sluggishly and looked up at him fearfully,

"You're okay, Sammy, I've gotcha, kiddo." With as much gentleness as he could muster, he reached down and touched one of the bruises on his brother's throat, cringing when he felt Sam flinch,

"I'm sorry, Sam…" He looked over at Bobby's unconscious body and felt his heart leap into his throat again. With a careful hand, he reached forward and felt his older friend's throat for a pulse and held his breath as he waited…There, it was there.

Bobby was alive, thank God.

"You stupid, stupid son of a bitch!" John growled, putting as much anger and hatred into his voice as he could muster as he snatched the Colt out of Gordon's hands,

"So you're the bastard who's been after my boy and the one who managed to steal the Colt as well, huh?" With a low growl, he met Dean's eyes briefly and handed the gun to his son,

"Has nobody ever told you not to touch my family – my sons – and if they do, they won't live to see another day?" His back was turned towards Dean, who was unable to see his face, and he met Gordon's eyes, an unspoken realization passing between them.

Gordon Walker had failed. Which meant that he was going to have to die at John's hands. That's all there was to it.

But first…

"You do realize, John Winchester, that your boy isn't even human? He's a monster-" His words were cut off as John took his gun and hit Gordon over the head with it,

"Goddamn you! Son of a bitch!"

"Nobody – especially scumbags like your kind – talk about my boys that way," John hissed and cocked the trigger of his gun. But before he could say anything else, however, he felt Gordon's fist flying into his own face, sending him stumbling backwards and almost landed on the floor beside his sons and a still unconscious Bobby. Not wasting anymore time that needed to be wasted, as Dean desperately needed to see right here and now that he needed to "trust him", John narrowed his eyes dangerously and just as Gordon was about to pound his face in with a fist coming his way, the older Winchester ducked and grabbed the younger man's arm, twisting it behind his back and the two eventually collapsed to the ground, Sam's wheelchair nearly falling on top of them as well.

"The hell…?" Bobby finally started to come to at that moment and rubbed his throbbing forehead, hissing at the swelling bump forming there as well as the pain in the back of his head. What the hell had just happened? Blinking his eyes and groaning, he turned his head to the side and spotted Sam and Dean both on the ground in the front hall of his house, the older brother gently cradling his sibling to him as if he was just a baby. Sam's eyes were staring straight up at his brother, as if he was doing everything in his power to not look at something-

"You okay, Bobby?" Dean finally spoke, not looking his way as he continued running a careful hand through Sam's hair.

"I'm fine, you idjits," The older man huffed as he sat straight up and just as a crash sounded from across the room, a few feet away, he turned and suddenly all memories came flooding back to him.

Sam's vision. The fire. Helping Sam into the house. Coming back in to find the gun missing from Sam's lap. The realization that Gordon was closer then expected…and finally, an intense pain in his head and then nothing until now. Oh hell, no!

"Ah shit," He growled with a shake of his head as he watched John Winchester and Gordon Walker go at it across the room. He was about to get up and reach for the Colt which lay beside Dean when the sound of a gun going off caused him to jerk his head up once more in time to see Gordon Walker collapse, John falling right on top of him. His dark eyes shifted to the gun which had fallen out of John's hands, but before Bobby could make a move for it, despite the dizziness he was feeling, the oldest Winchester had picked it up once again and climbed to his feet. The familiar sound of the trigger cocking was heard, but before John could do anything, Gordon used the leg that hadn't been shot and threw the older man off his feet.

"Damnit," Bobby felt fear coursing through his veins and as he rose to his feet shakily, he nudged Dean's shoulder,

"Dean, help me get your brother to the other room; this isn't gonna be pretty with that father of yours and that son of a bitch." When he was greeted with silence, Bobby glanced at the fighting still going on and shook Dean's shoulder roughly,

"Dean!"

"Alright, alright," Dean finally replied, glancing back down to his hurt brother, who was just now starting to appear more with it,

"You gonna be okay if we move you, Sammy?" At Sam's tense nod, Dean moved his right hand under Sam's motionless legs and kept his other arm across his back,

"Okay-"

"Dean, let me help you with him-"

"I've got it, okay, Bobby?" Dean snapped, glancing over at Gordon and John and then at the Colt,

"We just need to get him somewhere safe-"

"Dean, I'm okay," Sam finally interrupted, meeting Dean's eyes first and then Bobby's,

"Dad…don't let him get hurt…"

"He's okay, Sam," Bobby spoke up, although terror was filling him at the fight going on between John and Gordon. Who knew who was going to get out of that alive? Either one or the other…or neither,

"Dean and I are gonna help get you-" Before he could even help Dean get Sam out of the room, however, another shot rang out in the air and the oldest hunter cursed out loud, but then his eyes widened as he heard Dean gasp and watched him collapse back down to the ground,

"Dean!"

"You stupid bastard!" John shouted as he heard the gun go off once again and Dean's shout, and he knew right then and there that his oldest had been hit.

Wrong son.

Knowing there was no other option now, and Gordon was now in the possession of his gun, John reached into the waistband of his jeans and took a step back, making sure to get good aim. As Gordon was aiming the gun back at his head, however, John glowered and pulled the trigger, enjoying the sickening sound of the bullet ripping through Gordon Walker's skull.

0000

"Dean!"

All dizziness was shoved aside for Sam as he watched his brother collapse to the ground and shout out in pain,

"Dean!" He ignored Bobby's hands as he was attempting to push him away from his big brother; instead, Sam scooted forward on his stomach until he reached Dean and felt the tears that had started to form when Gordon almost killed him now falling freely as he saw Dean clutching his shoulder in pain,

"Dean…be okay, please be okay…"

His visions from the past few months of Dean dying, of Dean bleeding out, wormed it's way into his head and Sam let out a loud sob as he finally grasped onto his brother, being careful not to hurt him

"Dean!"

0000

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N- **I am so sorry for the mix-up on the chapters these past few weeks! I tried taking down the past Author's Note and instead it ended up so nobody could review! GAH! My apologies!

**A/N2- **I apologize yet again for the wait on this, this past week I've been doing some major brainstorming for my new story and I've been so excited for it that I almost forgot to get back to work on this one. It's looking to be my most intense one yet (just an advanced forewarning) and I'm looking forward to getting to work on it. Until then though, here's the next chapter for y'all!

**Chapter 13**

"Dean, will you hold still, damnit?" Bobby demanded with a roll of his eyes as he taped the bandage to Dean's shoulder and mumbled under his breath,

"Damn idjit, I swear, you boys will be the death of me-"

"Bobby, it's good," Dean interrupted, biting back a cry at the pain piercing through his right shoulder as he met Sam's eyes and finally pulled away from Bobby. There was one thing for certain; he was not going to show the pain he was feeling in front of his little brother. No way. He had taken that bullet for Sammy and just by the look of fear that was still present in his wide hazel eyes, it was clear the youngest Winchester was still clearly shaken up.

And speaking of which, Bobby had been so adamant on making sure that he was alright and patching up the wound – which was really just a flesh wound, damnit – while John had tended to Sam that Dean had barely had any time to look his baby brother fully over to make sure he was really okay. Of course, they had been seated directly across from him in their friend's library, so the older brother's eyes had never left Sam's the entire time, but still…

Because really, even though John had saved their lives back there from the disaster that was named Gordon Walker, Sam was still his responsibility. He was still his job, now more then ever and if anybody was going to make sure his brother was completely alright, it was Dean and nobody else. As grateful as he was to their father, and feeling some form of trust returning after that evening, this was one thing that never changed and John was going to realize that.

"Are you okay, Dean?" Sam finally spoke up for the first time in that long, drawn-out hour, ever since Bobby had started tending to his brother,

"Please…please, tell me you're okay…" His voice was quiet and hoarse from the hands that had wrapped around his throat, nearly choking him to death and just the sound of it caused Dean to frown in concern as Sam spoke.

Rising to his feet, inwardly cringing at the pain in his shoulder, Dean shoved it aside as he made it across the room in two strides to the couch where Sam was currently resting on, John sitting right beside him. Clearing his throat as he moved closer, the older brother nodded wordlessly at his father, who immediately moved out of the way and with a calming smile, Dean took the seat next to Sam and wasted no time in gathering him close to his chest,

"I'm alright, Sammy, I promise."

"You got shot, Dean…" Sam's voice hitched slightly as he rested his cheek on his brother's chest and closed his eyes tightly, trying to get rid of the images etched in his brain,

"I thought…I thought you were…"

"I know," Dean closed his green eyes as well and sighed, ignoring the flare in his right shoulder as he moved his arm further along his brother's back and held him tighter. He would put up with any type of pain, any at all, if it meant that his little brother remained safe and that was exactly what he had done that evening. He knew the chances of him getting fatally shot were high, but as soon as he had seen that gun in Gordon's hand aimed directly at Sam's head, there had been no other option in Dean's mind, so without any thought he had dove and covered his brother as much as he could before the shot had sounded in the air and he had felt the bullet ripping through his shoulder.

Thankfully, no stitches had been required and he had never lost consciousness, but the minute he had looked into Sam's face, Dean knew instantly what he was thinking.

His vision. At least a part of it, anyways.

Sam had had that vision over and over again of him being shot to death and just earlier that evening, he had had that same one; so when Dean had looked up and seen the sheer terror and tears in his little brother's eyes as he had trembled uncontrollably, the older Winchester knew this was not something Sam was going to get over instantly, even if he was conscious and alert.

"I thought you were dead," Sam whispered into his big brother's chest as he tried to control the racing of his heartbeat. If there was anything in his life that had ever scared him before, this was the scariest to him; no amount of killing monsters or even the accident ever compared to that feeling he got when he had seen Dean bleeding out because of him,

"Are you sure you're okay, Dean?"

Sighing quietly, the older brother nodded his head and rested his chin on the top of Sam's, all the while meeting John and Bobby's gazes from the other side of the room,

"I'm sure, Sammy." Still holding tightly to his brother as it didn't seem to appear that Sam would be releasing him any time soon, Dean whispered into his ear,

"You know what happened, right, little brother?"

"You were shot."

"Yes, I was shot," Dean sighed once again,

"But I allowed him to shoot me, Sam." Feeling his brother flinch underneath his touch, he continued quickly,

"He had the gun aimed at your head, Sam; he was just about to kill you. I had to-"

"You allowed him to shoot you?" Sam's voice raised slightly, but still kept it quiet enough so that only Dean could hear him,

"Why?"

Frowning, Dean pulled away and looked directly into Sam's confused eyes,

"Because he was gonna kill you, that's why." He narrowed his eyes at his baby brother and shook his head,

"Why else would I do it, Sam?" When Sam started to open his mouth to object, Dean held up a hand, silencing him before he could get a word out,

"Not a word. I told you I would protect you at all costs, and if that means jumping in front of a bullet to protect you…then so be it. I don't care what I have to do, Sammy." Reaching out to pull his brother back into his arms, Dean softened his voice once more,

"Remember that, alright?" He paused for a moment before whispering, more to himself then to anybody else,

"But Gordon Walker's dead now. He's getting that ass of his salted and burned. He's gone and you're safe."

From the other side of the room, John leaned against the doorjam of the entrance to the library, looking back and forth between Bobby and his two sons, the youngest clinging once again to his brother like a lifeline. Clearing his throat, he met Bobby's gaze briefly before nodding to the dead body of Gordon Walker, which still lay in the hallway,

"I'll take care of this bastard here. Watch out for these two?"

"Of course, you damn idjit," The older hunter replied with a roll of his eyes. He took his cap off and rubbed the back of his head with a slight wince, feeling the bump which was already starting to form but chose to ignore it as he placed his cap back on and met John's eyes,

"Get rid of that body, John; and we're gonna have to cover out tracks if we don't want any of his buddies come knocking on my door." He scoffed and watched as the oldest Winchester patriarch walked towards the dead body of the other hunter who had been so intent on killing Sam, threw it over his shoulder and started towards the back door.

As soon as he slid the back door shut with his foot, Gordon's limp body draped over his shoulder, John finally let out the long huff he had been holding in for the past hour, ever since he had driven that bullet into the other man's skull,

"I warned you, Walker." He grumbled under his breath, making sure to keep his voice as quiet as possible so nobody could hear him,

"I warned you to take care of it and now you're paying the price by failing." As he walked down the steps, he waited until he was a safe distance from Bobby's house before he continued, anger and hatred present in his voice,

"There's only one other option now, you son of a bitch. I'm gonna have to take out my own abomination of a son."

And this time, he would not fail.

0000

"I gotta tell you, dad, you surprised me these last couple of months," Dean shook his head in awe a couple of days later as he stood in the kitchen, a beer bottle in his hand and his eyes staring up at his father as he swung his bag over his shoulder,

"Although what you did for Sammy the other day…"

"Son," John took a step closer and rested a firm hand on Dean's uninjured shoulder, squeezing slightly,

"I told you that you could trust me." He met his oldest son's eyes and arched an eyebrow,

"Do you trust me, Dean?"

Raising both eyebrows in surprise at the question, Dean set his beer bottle down on the kitchen table and studied his father for a few seconds. Did he trust him again? Yes, his father had made some of the worst choices imaginable over the past couple of months since the accident. Yes, he had said and done things that, at the time, seemed completely unforgiveable, what with blaming Sam for the car accident and not killing him while he was possessed…while instead, he should have thanked his youngest for saving his life. It was one thing to be his regular asshole self, but another altogether to act like a complete stranger.

But in the last couple of months, even Dean had to admit to himself that John had been pulling out all the stops on attempting to make up for those choices he had made, whether it came to not losing his temper or not pushing his oldest back into the hunt, but most all, his father had literally saved Sammy's life from one of the most lethal hunters around and if that didn't say something, nothing would. But as far as trust went, Dean wasn't so certain in that area; if he was completely honest with himself, the only people he fully trusted was his brother and Bobby and that was because their family friend had proven himself time and time again and had never let them down and Sammy was Sammy. He was his little brother and that pretty much said it all.

"Let me tell you this, dad," Dean finally started to answer, allowing a small smile to cross his face for his father's sake,

"You're gonna have to still work to prove yourself to completely earn my trust and Bobby's trust back, but we do have an understanding, dad. Just promise me you'll stay in contact with Sam, alright? I don't know if he'll be able to stand it if he loses you completely again."

"I promise."

"Don't go ignoring him again once you leave this place, dad," Dean lowered his voice a notch, as the last thing he wanted was to wake his brother up from the nap he was currently taking,

"Don't pretend like he doesn't exist and more importantly, don't expect to ever just up and leave him like you demanded of me a few months ago, dad."

"Dean, we've already been over this-"

"If you want me to trust you again, you'll understand this and do it." The younger hunter interrupted, folding his arms across his chest,

"Okay, dad?"

Anger churning in his gut at his son's words, John was tempted to just say "fuck this", leave and never look back. Was all of this really worth it, just so that he could eliminate the problem that Gordon Walker was unable to take care of? Memory after memory swarmed his brain as he recalled finding out exactly what Sam's "destiny" was supposed to be in the future, the evil that was inside of him at this very moment.

He remembered so clearly that day when he found all that out and that was the day when his entire world had shifted and he had seen things with a much clearer perspective; but he had never intended on hunting down his son unless things came to a head and he had no choice. Of course, he had never seen the accident coming, much less Sam's brain damage and paralysis, which led to Dean once again taking his little brother's side and not thinking about the bigger picture.

Eventually, John knew there was no other option and he had to face the cold, hard facts. Sam was a monster, he wasn't human and he had to be taken out, no questions asked. Nothing was going to change; Sam was a much easier target then he had ever been and not even Dean would be able to fix this.

He was going to have to be killed and Dean was going to have to live with it. Eventually, he would see the truth, he would see why it was necessary; he might hate him for a period of time, but once he saw things from John's perspective…The older hunter nodded his head more to himself then anything and allowed himself to smile down at his oldest son reassuringly as he squeezed his good shoulder again.

"Of course, son." He glanced over his own shoulder towards the bedroom where Sam was currently resting,

"I'm going to go and say goodbye to your brother, alright?"

Lifting an eyebrow slightly and studying John's face for a moment and not seeing any lies hidden underneath, Dean slowly nodded his head in agreement just as Bobby walked through the kitchen door. Meeting his friend's eyes, he asked,

"Is Sammy still sleeping, Bobby?"

"He's out like a light at the moment, Dean," The gruff hunter replied with a small sigh,

"He woke up briefly complaining of a headache-"

"Why didn't you get me, Bobby?" Ignoring his father standing right in front of him and the question he had yet to answer, Dean started to make his way to the doorway when Bobby grabbed his arm and brought him to a halt.

"He's fine, Dean," Bobby rolled his eyes to the ceiling,

"I gave him some pain meds and he was out within a matter of seconds." He walked over to his fridge and reached in to grab a beer,

"You leaving, Johnny?"

"After I say goodbye to Sam," John searched Dean's green eyes once again,

"Will you allow for me to do at least that?"

"As long as you don't wake him up," The older brother ordered, narrowing his eyes sternly,

"He went through too much after Gordon Walker banged him up and his head's still hurting. Just don't wake him up."

"I wouldn't think of it, Dean," John grinned and dumped his bag down on the floor before making his way through the double doors and down the hall towards the added on bedroom. Once Dean and Bobby where out of eyesight and hearing range, he allowed the smile to drop from his face and his dark eyes turned cold and hard, an idea slowly starting to form in his mind as he walked slowly down the hall.

This was not going to be easy. Hell, it was going to be even harder then hiring Gordon to take Sam down, and it would take even longer given the fact that he was going to have to do this behind Dean's back. But if that's what it took, then that's what he was going to do. Patience was not one of his virtues, but John Winchester knew that there was no other way, especially with Dean playing his usual mother-hen routine around Sam.

Pushing the door open and seeing his youngest laying flat on his back, John shut the door quietly and left the light off before he made his way over to Sam's bed and stood, staring down at his face, studying him for a few silent moments. A lot of the tension and pain had left his youngest son's features and John watched as Sam's chest rose up and down with each breath. Reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket and fingering the Colt, which still held the one bullet, John looked at it for a moment and then back down at his youngest – no, the monster wearing his son's face. His son hadn't been in that meat suit ever since Mary had died; but ever since the accident…

Lowering his hand from the Colt, as he knew that this was not the time or the place to take care of the problem, John tucked it back into his jacket and patted it. It needed to be safe; that one bullet was still going to be used on Sam when the time was right, but that time was not now. Kneeling down beside the bed and narrowing his dark eyes in hatred at Sam's sleeping form, John reached a hand out and placed it on the younger boy's head, pressing his thumb down hard on his forehead. A grin formed on his face when he heard a slight whimper escape the monster's lips, exhilaration flowing through his body at the noise; it was about time Sam felt a little bit of the pain he had been feeling for over 20 years.

"And he couldn't even put a bullet into your head, Sammy," John sneered as he moved his hand from the younger boy's head just as the whimpers stopped and Sam slowly drifted off into dreamland again,

"That'll change." Ignoring the slight hesitation that this was a very bad idea, that Dean and Bobby would still find out and have his head on a platter, John shook his head and allowed any small amount of guilt to fall from his shoulders as he glared down at the still sleeping Sam,

"I guarantee, by the time this is all over, Sam, you'll have experienced the same type of pain my Mary went through."

000

Sam could have sworn he had heard someone talking to him by his bed; he could have sworn he had felt pain slicing through his head as he slept on as well. But before he knew it, the pain was gone, as well as the voice…it was a familiar voice, but whose voice was it?

Feeling himself starting to wake up when he heard another voice that he would recognize anywhere, Sam allowed his eyes to open sleepily and smiled slightly when he met his big brother's faze,

"Hi, Dean…"

"Hey yourself, kiddo," Dean smirked as he tucked the covers gently around his little brother before handing him a cup of water, which Sam took readily,

"How's your head? You feeling any better?"

"Still hurts…" The younger brother whispered before taking a long drink and reached a hand out to rubbed his forehead where he had felt that intense pain as he slept and winced when he felt it again,

"Dean…?" He met his brother's eyes, the fear from a few days ago coming back at him full force,

"Dean…you're sure you're okay?"

"How many times have I had to answer that, Sammy?" Dean arched an eyebrow and smirked again but guilt flowed through him when he saw the deep worry etched on Sam's face,

"I'm fine, little bro; that's the God's honest truth. It was just a flesh wound, your vision didn't come true, I'm still alive and kicking and I'll continue to do so until I'm old and gray." At Sam's small chuckle, Dean was unable to stop himself from smiling as well,

"See? Everything's fine."

"Alright…" Sam whispered before he winced more in pain.

"You sure you're feeling alright, Sammy?" Dean frowned. Their father had left hours ago and while he had been in Sam's room, the older brother had not once heard Sam wake up. When his brother didn't answer, Dean pushed further,

"Sam?"

"I'm okay, Dean," Sam shook his head in confusion; he had to had just imagined that voice,

"I just thought I heard someone talking to me while I was asleep…"

"That was probably dad; I allowed him to come into your room to say goodbye," He looked straight into the younger boy's eyes and never broke contact as he asked the next question,

"He didn't wake you, did he?"

"N-No," With another shake of his head, Sam attempted to sit up but was soon pushed down by his brother's hands,

"I'm alright, Dean…"

"You're still in pain, though, after all those whacks on the head the other day and nearly getting strangled to death," Dean pointed out as he gently pushed his stubborn brother back down once more,

"You're gonna sleep some more, Sammy; that's not a request." He took the now empty glass from his brother's slightly trembling hands and placed it on the nightstand in between their beds.

"Don't go?" Sam whispered back tiredly, feeling himself starting to fall back to sleep, but before he allowed his eyes to slide shut again, he grabbed onto Dean's wrist and asked,

"Dean, will dad come back?"

"If he keeps his promises, and actually paid attention to what I warned him about, he will," Dean nodded his head with a reassuring smile,

"Now go back to sleep, you stubborn little brother." He watched as Sam's eyes slid shut before the words were even completely out of his mouth and after making sure his brother was sound asleep, Dean rose to his feet and settled onto the bed beside him, his eyes never leaving Sam.

Yes, his father had made many promises these past couple of months and he had kept them thankfully; he was even treating Sammy like a human being again instead of an invalid. But there was one thing for certain and Dean knew that, if his father even so much as put a foot out of line and hurt Sam again, the renewed understanding between them would be over and done with. Hell, Dean didn't even feel guilty about the possibility of disowning his own father if that's what it took.

Because Sam came first; he would always come first.

And Dean could only hope, for both Sam's sake and his own, they wouldn't ever have to get to that point.

0000

TBC


	15. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

I just wanted to take the time, just in case anybody missed it, to apologize for the chapter number mix-up that happened when I posted Chapter 13 (which is currently labeled as Chapter 14) the other day. I was trying to remove the former Author's Note and instead of making things better, I ended up making it so that nobody could review the new chapter. I am sorry about that, I chose to keep the past Author's Note in there and will until the story's end, though, as well as this one and won't attempt that again. Hopefully things will go much smoother from here on out!


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